Oct. 21, 2008

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND - Junior 3B Cameron Brown roped a two-RBI double to left, capping a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth and leading the Red Team to a 6-4 win over the Blue in the Spider World Series at Pitt Field Tuesday. The victory clinched the 2008 title for the Red.

Red reliever sophomore Mike Mergenthaler picked up the victory in the series clinching game as he cruised through the Blue lineup over the final three innings with no runs, one hit, one walk and one strikeout.

"Once again, I thought both teams played with good intensity today," said head coach Mark McQueen. "This game was a great learning experience for us. All fall, the coaches have been stressing that good pitching and defense will give us a chance to win if we just take care of the baseball. As a whole I`ve been pleased with our pitchers command of the strike zone and Coach Wheeler has our defense playing well, but today we struggled a bit. It's something we can learn from and get better."

With the Red trailing 4-3 heading to the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Billy Barber opened the fifth inning for Red by reaching on an error, he moved to second with a stolen base then moved to third on a wild pitch. Kyle Leith walked, then swiped second to put two in scoring position.

Junior Victor Croglio's infield single to third base with two outs tied the game and in the next at-bat, Red took the lead for good when Brown's bases-clearing double caromed off the top of the wall in left field.

The visiting Blue Team looked to be in the driver's seat early on, putting two runs on Red starter Brian Farrell without putting a ball in play in the first inning. Farrell fanned the game's first batter but proceeded to walk the next four in succession to drive in the first run. Another strikeout, followed by another bases loaded free-pass to Bryan Conway made it 2-0.

Red struck back in its half of the inning, picking up a run after Blue starter Daniel Clark walked the bases loaded and gave up a sacrifice fly to junior C Evan Stehle. Clark however escaped any further damage by getting Mike Mergenthaler to hit into an inning ending double play.

The see-saw battle continues and assistant coach Joe Frostick's Blue squad answered right back in the top of the second with two more runs thanks to a two-run shot by Ryan Metzroth.

Farrell though, found his groove on the hill and proceeded to strike out five of the next six hitters. He went three innings, allowed four earned runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and six walks.

The Red Team cut the deficit to one at 4-3 on Billy Barber's two-RBI double down the left field line, but reliever Jay Joines came in and got a strike out and a pop out to squelch the Red rally.

Joines escaped trouble in the fourth, but suffered the tough-luck loss after Red rallied in the fifth.

The Spiders wrap up their fall season with Game 3 of the World Series Wednesday afternoon at Pitt Field. The game is set for a 3:30 p.m. start is open to the public.