Feb. 19, 2010

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Richmond baseball team exploded for 10 runs in the second inning and senior Matt Zielinski was dominant in the season-opener as the Spiders rolled past Florida A&M, 23-1, Friday in the first game of the North Florida Classic.

Zielinski fanned five and scattered just five hits over six innings to pick up the Spiders third-straight season-opening win under head coach Mark McQueen. The senior lefty allowed just one walk and a run in the winning effort.

"We threw strikes, only walked one and didn't commit an error," said McQueen. "I liked that we did the little things well and that's a credit to our guys. Even though we've practice outside only once with all the snow, we've worked hard and came ready to play today."

Sophomore C Chris Cowell launched a three-run homer in the Spiders 10-run second inning and set a career-high with six RBI to lead an offensive attack that struck for 21 runs on 11 hits and benefited from 16 walks by Rattler pitching.

"The big second inning really gave us a chance to relax and allowed our guys to get in a zone," said McQueen. "We had good at-bats and I liked the approach."

Junior DH Billy Barber had two hits, a solo homer, three RBI and scored four times, while sophomore LF Phil Ruzbarsky had two hits and scored a career-high three runs.

After Barber led off the second inning with a single, Brown followed with a towering shot to left and Cowell later tomahawked a three-run homer over the left-center field wall. Richmond feasted on five walks in the frame and ended the day of FAMU starter Miguel Parga quickly.

Zielinski worked his way out of trouble in both the first and second innings, but settled in after that to face just four batters over the minimum over the next four innings. With the win, the senior now has 14 in his career and needs just six more to crack the Spiders' career Top 10 list.

"Matt got stronger as the game went on," said McQueen. "He was locating pitches and I was very happy with his effort."

Sophomore Alex Maffett picked up his first career save by allowing just one hit over the final three innings with two strikeouts.

"It was great to see Alex finish the game with three strong innings," said McQueen.

Richmond returns to action tomorrow as the UNF Classic continues with the Spiders battling the host Osprey at 1 p.m. The game will be shown live on asun.tv.

Notes: Senior Matt Zielinski made his second opening-day start for Richmond... Both of those starts came in Jacksonville... He got a no-decision in a win over UNC-Wilmington at the Jacksonville University Invitational in 2008... Third-year head coach Mark McQueen has won all three of his opening-day games as a head coach, beating UNCW 23-16 in 2008, Niagara 8-6 in 2009 and Florida A&M 23-1 today.