The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Seton Hall sweeps Spiders in first home series

The University of Richmond baseball team started the season with a 0-6 record, which frustrated players and coaches alike.

After losing all three games in the University of North Florida Best Bet Classic in Florida, the Spiders returned home with hopes of benefiting from home-field advantage. They were swept by Seton Hall University in their first weekend series at Pitt Field.

Head coach Tracy Woodson was not pleased with his team's performance over the weekend, he said. The Spiders were out-hit by the Pirates 34-19 and outscored 30-6 over the three-game series.

"We played poorly," Woodson said. "We didn't pitch well. We didn't catch the ball. We didn't hit. If you don't do those three things, you're going to lose, and that's what happened."

Richmond lost Saturday's game 8-2, the first game of Sunday's double-header 16-2 and the second game 6-2.

In each game, Seton Hall gained a lead over Richmond early and added to that lead as the game progressed. Woodson credited Seton Hall's talented hitters with the wins, but he could not pinpoint one area in which Richmond struggled the most.

"It was all bad. Everything was bad," Woodson said. "We had a couple guys who swung the bats OK, but we got beat, bad."

Despite their poor performance over the weekend, Woodson and his players aren't giving up on the 59-game season.

"It's a little frustrating as a team because we know we're not playing anywhere near how good we actually are," Ryan Cook, junior pitcher, said, "but it's a long season. We've got like 50 more games to go, so we'll be all right. I think once we get that first win, once we get over that hump and get confidence up, we'll get rolling."

Though Woodson classified the entire weekend negatively, there were a few bright moments for Richmond.

Matt Dacey, sophomore third baseman, hit a home run in his first collegiate game after redshirting last year at University of Michigan. Cook struck out eight batters in his four-inning start. Zach Grossfeld, junior pitcher, faced the minimum six batters and struck out one in a dominant two innings in relief of Cook.

Regardless of the outcome of the weekend, Dacey kept a positive outlook on his first college start and was confident that with time, the wins would come.

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"Just getting out here for the first time and experiencing a college game was everything I hoped for," Dacey said. He said starting the season with a losing record had been a setback for the team, but he was confident they would get things rolling.

"We're a little slow right now, but we've got our minds set. We're going to pick it back up," he said.

The Spiders' next opportunity to break its losing streak will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, when they start a three-game series at Pitt Field against Fairfield University.

Contact staff writer Erin Flynn at erin.flynn@richmond.edu

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