Baseball dominates Coppin State Eagles in a 13-0 victory

After recovering from two close losses in Jacksonville, a strong early lead helped the Spiders take a sweeping victory against the Coppin State Eagles on Wednesday.

Well-placed hits by the Spiders and poor playing on the field by the Eagles resulted in a 13-0 victory, putting the Spiders at 6-2 for the season.

Returning sophomore Chris Bates made his second start of the season pitching and maintained his 0.00 ERA, not letting any hitters score a run. Bates pitched for five innings, at the end of which the Spiders had scored 12 runs from 15 hits and the Eagles had managed one hit.

Bates had been injured last season and had not started for the team since the end of his freshman year, he said.

Freshman Tanner Stanley and junior Nick Poulos led the team in hits. Stanley went 4-for-4 with four runs, and Poulos went 4-for-5 with two runs. Senior Jacob Mayers went 3-for-4 with two runs and had three runs batted in.

Freshman Tyler Beckwith started for the second time in his college career at shortstop, a position which is typically filled by junior Mike Small.

At the end of the last game against Jacksonville on Sunday, Small had been given a post-game suspension for making a derogatory comment to the umpire, Richmond coach Mark McQueen said. Small had been suspended for the game against Coppin State but would be back on the field on Friday, McQueen said.

Being able to take an early lead against the Eagles was good for the team's confidence, McQueen said. The win would also be good momentum going into the weekend games where the competition would be greater, he said.

The Spiders are scheduled to start off a three-game series against Wagner Seahawks at home at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1.

Contact staff writer Rebecca Wilson at rebecca.wilson@richmond.edu