Spiders' seventh-inning rally falls short, GW wins 11-8

Richmond baseball could not handle Atlantic 10 rival George Washington's eighth-inning lift from Tom Zebroski's RBI single that broke the 6-6 tie as the Spiders lost 11-8 on Friday afternoon at Pitt Field.

The Colonials (18-16, 8-2) staved off a Spider ninth-inning rally to win the first of a three-game series.

The Spiders (16-16, 3-7) started off strong in the second inning when senior Cameron Brown hit a home run to centerfield and recorded 2 RBIs. Richmond's play fell flat during the third inning when GW scored five runs.

Senior Ian Marshall started off pitching for Richmond, and after GW's third-inning five-run tally, Marshall allowed just three hits and an unearned run during the next four innings.

The Spiders' first rally of the game came during the seventh inning when senior Victor Croglio and sophomore Robby Massar took their bases because of pitch hits. Sophomore Derek Boliek also walked to first and then junior Mike Mergenthaler batted in a runner, followed by junior Billy Barber's home run to center field for 3 RBI.

Coach Mark McQueen said that the team battled back by taking pitches and getting baserunners.

"Their pitcher was getting tired, so we used that to our advantage," McQueen said. "We had a good count and good position and capitalized on that."

Barber extended his hitting streak to 21 games when he hit the game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"When everyone was getting on base and their pitcher was wearing down during the seventh, we just started feeding off of each other's energy," Barber said.

The eighth inning was a costly one as it ended with the second of two double plays rolled into by Richmond. The Spiders scored twice in the ninth inning off of sophomore Bryan Conway's pinch-hit two-RBI single up the middle. Sophomore reliever Alex Maffett was tagged with the loss for Richmond (0-1).

"We definitely played hard, but we had a few tough breaks," Barber said.

McQueen said that the game began with Richmond ahead, then GW would rally and so on for the majority of the game.

"Our bullpen let us down," he said. "We couldn't find the zone and we made some silly errors."

Barber said that if the team plays with as much intensity as they did today, then they should see different results tomorrow.

The Spiders continue the A-10 series against the Colonials Saturday at Pitt Field at 2 p.m.

Contact staff writer Amelia Vogler at amelia.vogler@richmond.edu