April 18, 2009

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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - Junior C Evan Stehle collected three hits, drove in three runs, and roped the game-winning, two-RBI double off the wall in the eighth inning to lead the Richmond baseball team past Duquesne, 5-4, Saturday at Pitt Field. The key Atlantic 10 win is the Spiders' third in the last four games.

Stehle, a local product from Monacan High School, finished the day three-for-four with a pair of doubles as the Spiders improved to 16-16 overall, 6-8 in the Atlantic 10 and jumped two spots into a three-way tie for ninth in the conference.

Richmond, which led 3-0 after the first inning, rolled into the bottom of the decisive eighth frame trailing 4-3 after the Dukes struck for a pair in the top of the eighth to seize their first lead of the series.

Senior Ryan Metzroth got the eighth started for Richmond by reaching on a one-out error and then with two outs, sophomore Billy Barber singled into right field off reliever Michael Pelekanos. In the next at-bat, Stehle ripped his second two-bagger of the day off the top off the right-field wall to score both Metzroth and Barber and put Richmond back in front.

Senior closer Brian Alas finished off the Dukes (8-28, 3-10) with two strikeouts in the ninth for his fifth save of the season and giving Barber, who came on in relief of starter Matt Zielinski in the seventh inning, his third win (3-1).

The victory improved the Spiders to 6-1 this season in one-run ball games.

Zielinski fired a gem over six innings, allowing just six hits, two runs with six strikeouts and turned the game over to Barber with a 3-2 lead in the seventh. Zielinski allowed Bill Torre to reach on a lead-off double in the seventh and Derek Fallecker's single followed to score Torre and end the lefty's day.

Barber preserved the 3-2 advantage in seventh with a double-play ball and a groundout in consecutive at bats.

A Mark Tracy sacrifice fly drove in the tying run in the eighth, and with two outs, Torre rolled a ground ball up the third base line. A wide throw from Cameron Brown got by Mike Mergenthaler at first to allow Rick Deveraux to score as the go-ahead run.

For the second-straight game, the Spiders jumped on the visitors early after Adam McConnell led the game off with a double and Brown walked. Metzroth's fly-out moved the pair into scoring position and Mergenthaler brought them home with his two-run single to left.

Stehle's single scored Mergenthaler and the Spiders quickly led 3-0 on Duquesne starter Gary Pierpont. But Pierpont settled in and faced just three batters over the minimum over the next six innings, allowing the offense to chip away.

Mike Carroll's solo home run in the fourth put the Dukes on the board.

With sophomore starter Anthony Cafagna on the hill Sunday, the Spiders will look for the series sweep at Pitt Field. First pitch is slated for noon.