Richmond baseball beats Davidson 2-1 in three-game home series

The University of Richmond baseball team hosted Davidson College for a three-game series over the weekend. After winning the first game, the Spiders dropped the second game by a large margin, but were able to rebound and win the final game.

Game One

Largely due to good pitching, the first game was the lowest scoring of the three. Sophomore Keenan Bartlett started on the mound and pitched for seven innings. He held the Wildcats to only three runs and managed to strike out six players. Freshman Caleb Ward relieved Bartlett and was able to shut down the Davidson offense for his fourth save of the season.

The Richmond offense remained relatively quiet throughout the game, scoring only one run in the first and fourth innings and two runs in the sixth inning. Senior Aaron Newman provided half of the Spiders total points for the day with a two-run home run in the sixth inning. The final score was 4-3 Richmond.

Game Two

The Wildcats' offense dominated the second game, scoring 14 runs. After Davidson jumped out to a three-run lead in the first inning, Richmond showed a shred of hope by scoring two runs in the second inning.

Davidson quickly thwarted the potential comeback by scoring four more runs in the third and fourth innings. Even after they had a five-run lead, the Wildcats didn’t stop scoring. They scored seven more runs and won the game with a final score of 14-2.

Richmond struggled to find a pitcher that clicked against Davidson’s offense. The Spiders put five pitchers on the mound over the course of the second game, none pitching more than four innings. The loss was officially accredited to Senior Zach Grossfeld who was the starting pitcher, but seven of the runs were given up by other pitchers.

Game Three

In the final game of the series, the Wildcats struck first, as they did in every game of the series, scoring one run in the first inning. The Spiders quickly responded by scoring two runs of their own in the second inning, but lost the lead in the fourth inning after the Wildcats made three more runs.

Once again, the Spiders responded to the strong opposing offense and scraped out three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sophomore Daniel Brumbaugh was first to bat in the inning and reached first base on a well-placed bunt.

After Senior Jonathan de Marte was walked after being hit by a pitch, Brumbaugh scored after a Davidson error on a batted ball by sophomore Brandon Johnson. De Marte then scored on a ground-out and Johnson scored off a hard-hit double by graduate Michael Morman.

Richmond managed to maintain the lead through the remaining innings despite a three-run rally by the Wildcats in the eighth inning. Senior Dan Martinson started the game on the mound for the Spiders and let up only three runs in just over five innings. After Ward made his second appearance of the weekend in relief, Brumbaugh closed the game out and recorded his fifth save of the season.

Because of the offensive and defensive leadership of Brumbaugh, the Spiders were able to win two of three games in a series for the second weekend in a row. Brumbaugh hit four of five at-bats and scored twice, while also pitching the final two innings of the game.

After a strong performance against Davidson, Richmond improves its in-conference record to 6-6. The Spiders will face Liberty University next in a mid-week matchup on Wednesday at home.  

 Contact sports writer Colby Wilcox at colby.wilcox@richmond.edu