Baseball
First-Place Baseball Knocks Off No. 11 Richmond, 5-3
April 6, 2003
Richmond, Va. - The University of Rhode Island baseball team posted a thrilling 5-3 victory in extra-innings against No. 11 Richmond in an Atlantic 10 Contest on Sunday afternoon to wrap-up a weekend series with the Spiders.
The Rams handed the Spiders their first regular season Atlantic 10 Conference loss at home, since Richmond joined the conference before the 2002 season. The Spiders had won 17 straight Atlantic 10 regular season home games.
With the win, Rhode Island improves to 12-15 for the season, 6-3 in the Atlantic 10. The Rams hold sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10 East Division.
After a scoreless first, sophomore Josh Nestor knocked in senior Justin Lamboy on a groundout to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The Spiders tied the game in the fourth on a Vito Chiaravalloti RBI groundout
The Spiders (23-6, 6-2 A-10), who are ranked No. 11 in the country by the Nationa Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 15 by the SportsWeekly/ESPN poll, took a 2-1 lead with a run in the sixth on Chiaravolloti's second RBI of the day. Rhode Island pinch-hitter, junior John Maloney knotted the score in the top of the seventh when his sacrifice fly plated Lamboy who led off the frame with a single. Lamboy went 3-5 and scored twice for the Rams in the victory.
In the top of the ninth, Nestor delivered the go-ahead run as he lifted an RBI single to centerfield that scored redshirt freshman Adam Houston and gave the Rams a 3-2 lead.
Richmond tied the game in the bottom of the frame. Senior Michael Galligan (Woodbury, N.Y.) led off the ninth with a double to left field and later scored on a Pritz single. However, with the bases loaded and one out, Chiaravalloti fouled out and Ben Zeskind (Miami, Fla.) struck out to send the game into extra innings.
The Rams won the game with two runs in the 10th. Freshman D.J. Burns and redshirt freshman Wayne Russo scored in the inning, while sophomore Matt Sullivan and Houston delivered the RBI. Richmond loaded the bases in their half of the inning but could not score.
Freshman reliever Tom Venedam, who improved to 2-2 for Rhode Island, hurling the final 1.2 innings. Givens fell to 2-1 on the season after allowing three earned runs in 2.0 innings.
Rhode Island hosts Brown in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Bill Beck Field.
