University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
16-15, 2-6
VCU
17-16, 4-4
Beal Homers Twice, Spiders Rally Falls Short Against VCU
04/16/2022 | Baseball
Richmond moves to 16-15 on the season and 2-6 in A-10 play, while VCU moves to 18-15 on the year and 4-4 in league action. All nine Spider starters collected at least one hit and reached base twice in the contest.
Down 1-0 heading in to the bottom of the first, Spiders leadoff man Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) launched his first home run of the season to quickly tie the game. Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.) gave Richmond the lead after he crossed home on Johnny Hipsman's (Chester, N.Y.) sharp single to left.
VCU tallied two in the top of the second on a two-run home run, but again the Spiders answered with two of their own to regain the lead, 4-3. Will Gersky (Woodbury, Conn.) drew a four-pitch walk then scored from first on Shane Gipson's (Chicago, Ill.) double down the left field line. Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) picked up Gipson with a base hit to right.
Richmond pushed their lead to 5-3 on Andrew Papantonis' (Lebanon Township, N.J.) third home run of the season.
Spider starter Jason Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) regrouped after allowing three runs in the first two innings to toss two scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing only one walk. Neff finished the day allowing eight runs, six earned, on six hits, four walks, four strikeouts and one hit batter.
VCU posted six runs on five hits, one walk and one Richmond error to take a 9-5 lead.
Gersky launched his seventh home run, a three-run shot to left field, on a 1-0 pitch to put the Spiders within one. Beal followed with his second solo shot of the day, his first multi-home run game of his career, to tie the game a second time.
VCU picked up two runs in the seventh and eighth, after Winston Allen (Morristown, N.J.) worked a scoreless sixth on nine pitches. Allen was tagged with the two runs in the seventh before Jack Buckley (Bronx, N.Y.) took over and retired the next three VCU batters. Buckley gave up two in the eighth on two hits, one walk and a hit batter.
Richmond had the bases loaded in the eighth, but were unable to cut into VCU's lead.
In the ninth, Gersky got a one out single to left then was followed with a walk by Gipson. Beal laced a base hit to center to load the bases. Mathes picked up Gipson with a single to left while a ground out by Toso pushed Beal in. Hipsman battled at the plate and sent a flare that VCU's centerfielder dove to collect the third out and stop the Spiders rally.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chenier, Evan (1-0)
L: Allen, Winston (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hujsak, Connor 1 ; Selden, Jacob 1
HR: Ericsson, Nic 1
RBI: Haydak, Michael 1 ; Hujsak, Connor 2 ; Carlone, Will 1 ; Benzin, Cooper 2 ; Ericsson, Nic 2 ; Selden, Jacob 2 ; Robinson, Jesse 3
SH: Benzin, Cooper 1
SF: Haydak, Michael 1 ; Hujsak, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Haydak, Michael 1 ; Nippolt, Ben 1 ; Locklear, Tyler 2 ; Hujsak, Connor 2 ; Carlone, Will 1 ; Mathis, AJ 1 ; Benzin, Cooper 3 ; Ericsson, Nic 1 ; Selden, Jacob 1
SB: Robinson, Jesse 1
CS: Haydak, Michael 1
HBP: Haydak, Michael 1 ; Nippolt, Ben 1 ; Locklear, Tyler 1 ; Selden, Jacob 1
Batting:
2B: Gipson, Shane 1
HR: Beal, Christian 2 ; Papantonis, Andrew 1 ; Gersky, Will 1
RBI: Beal, Christian 2 ; Mathes, Alden 2 ; Toso, Dominic 1 ; Hipsman, Johnny 1 ; Papantonis, Andrew 1 ; Gersky, Will 3 ; Gipson, Shane 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Beal, Christian 2 ; Toso, Dominic 1 ; Papantonis, Andrew 1 ; Elbeery, Jake 1 ; Sprague-Lott, Jared 1 ; Gersky, Will 2 ; Starnes, Jimmy 1 ; Gipson, Shane 2
HBP: Toso, Dominic 1
