The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Richmond uses late rally to sweep series against SBU

Up one run in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and runners on first and third, St. Bonaventure University decided to intentionally walk University of Richmond rightfielder Mike Mergenthaler. Pinch-hitter Bryan Conway made the Bonnies pay.

With the bases loaded, Conway popped a ball up towards centerfield and it landed perfectly between the Bonnies' second baseman and centerfielder. The single drove in Nick Poulos and Matt Zink to give the Spiders an 8-7 lead.

Conway said he saw the intentional walk as an opportunity.

"I had a feeling it was coming when I saw the situation with [Mergenthaler] coming up," he said. "He's been hitting the ball all weekend real well, so I was thinking, 'It's probably my time to shine, my time to carry the team a little bit.' So I was excited for the opportunity."

Conway said he wasn't sure his hit would end up on the grass.

"I knew it had a chance," he said. "I didn't square it up real well, didn't think it was gonna go all the way to centerfield, so I was just saying my prayers as I was running down the line, hoping it was going to drop."

Junior Alex Maffett (2-2) finished the game off for the Spiders, earning the win with a perfect ninth inning.

Conway's single finished off a big rally for the Spiders that began in the bottom of the seventh after St. Bonaventure went up 6-2 in the top half of the inning.

Richmond manager Mark McQueen said his team knew it had time to come back and drew on recent comeback victories for confidence.

"This team has found ways to make things happen lately," he said. "We've pulled out a lot of wins in the last couple innings and I think everyone in [the dugout] was still relaxed, feeling confident, and we knew we had to just keep plugging away and getting people on base and that's what we did."

The Spiders scored three runs during the seventh on RBI's from Mergenthaler, Conway and designated hitter Billy Barber to get within one run of the Bonnies.

After St. Bonaventure added an insurance run in the top of the eighth, Richmond outfielder Robby Massar scored off a sacrifice fly from shortstop Mike Small and drew a couple walks to load the bases for Conway's heroics.

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The win gives Richmond (15-11-2) the weekend series sweep over their Atlantic 10 conference foe, its first conference series sweep since 2008 against La Salle.

Conway said the importance of the sweep shouldn't be underestimated.

"I think it's absolutely huge," he said. "I'm a junior here and this is my first conference sweep since I've been here. Just starting off 3-0 [in conference], it's a great way to kick off. We're feeling good about ourselves right now."

Freshman Andrew Brockett started the game for Richmond and gave up four runs (one earned) off six hits in five innings. Three of those runs came on a homerun hit by Bonnies' clean-up hitter Nick Brennan.

"I thought [Brockett] did a nice job," McQueen said. "He made one bad pitch to their best guy, and their guy did what he's supposed to do: he made us pay for it. Other than than, he did a pretty solid job and it was a good outing for him."

Next up for Richmond is a home game Wednesday against the College of William & Mary, before heading to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday for a three game series with Xavier University.

GameNotes:

The teams used a combined 10 pitchers for the game, five each. ... Richmond has now won 11 of its last 12 games. ... The teams combined for 25 hits Sunday, three more hits than the previous two games combined.

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu

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