May 26, 2012

2012 Baseball Game 9 - SLU-UR

BRONX, N.Y.--Fifth-seeded Richmond advanced to the 2012 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship finals with a 3-2 ninth-inning win over top-seeded Saint Louis Friday night at Fordham's Houlihan Park.

The Spiders (30-25) will face second-seeded Dayton (30-28) in the noon title game. As the consolation bracket winner, Richmond must win twice to claim the championship Saturday. Dayton need only win once. Saint Louis (41-18) was eliminated from the A-10 Championship.

Richmond scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a two-all tie. First baseman Ryan Mallory took a two-out walk, followed by a single by shortstop Mike Small to put runners on first and second. Center fielder Matt Zink sent a ball up the middle that got past the middle infield resulting in an error. The ball rolled into shallow centerfield, allowing Nick Poulos, who was pinch running for Mallory, to score from second.

Andrew Brockett (3-8) got the win for UR, throwing three hitless innings. James Norwood (3-3) took the loss, allowing just one hit and one unearned run in one inning pitched.

The teams traded runs in first inning with Saint Louis second baseman Mike Levine scoring on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Marco Diroma. The Spiders got the run back in the bottom when Third baseman Adam McConnell scored on a fielder's choice by right fielder Phil Ruzbarsky.

First baseman Mike Vigliarolo gave Saint Louis a third-inning lead with a triple that scored Diroma. That lead held until the eighth inning when UR tied the game on a throwing error that allowed Small to score from third. The Billikens went down in order in the top of the ninth, setting up Richmond's walk-off game winner.