March 20, 2011
Box Score
RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team scored first but Richmond plated four runs in the first three innings and three in the sixth en route to an 8-1 win at Pitt Field Sunday.
Matt Zink went 3-for-5 and Bret Williams drove in three runs to lead Richmond. James Newsome (Mechanicsville, Md.) and Luis Mena (Cape Coral, Fla.) tallied two hits apiece for the UMES (1-17), which collected five on the day.
Shawn O'Neill (2-0) scattered three hits and a run in five innings for the win on the mound and Anthony Cafagna pitched the final four innings for his first save. UMES broke on top with a run in the top of the first. Newsome worked a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. A Bryan Chaikowsky (Bethlehem, Pa.) groundout pushed Newsome to third when Mena.
Richmond (9-10-2) responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Mike Small started the frame with a double down the right-field line. Two batters later, Mike Mergenthaler had a single to left to tie the game. Williams put the Spiders ahead with a sacrifice fly and Karim Gonzalez (Mexico City, Mexico) avoided further trouble, getting J.D. Gadd swinging.
Up, 3-1, in the third, the Spiders added a run on a pair of doubles. Robby Massar hit a double down the line in left and with one out, Bryan Conway doubled to right for the RBI.
Richmond extended its advantage to 7-1 in the sixth. Zink singled off Mena's glove with one out in the inning before Mike Merganthaler walked, putting runners on first and second. Bernard Parker (Waldorf, Md.) relieved Gonzalez and allowed a double steal setting up a Phil Ruzbarsky sacrifice fly.
Chris Cowell earned a pinch-hit walk prior to Williams' two-run double into the right-field corner, scored Cowell and Merganthaler.
Cowell had an RBI double to left-center field, plating Ruzbarsky for the final margin.
Gonzalez (1-4) absorbed the loss for UMES in 5.1 innings. He surrendered eight hits and six runs (five earned) with four walks and three strikeouts.
UMES travels to play a doubleheader against Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C., beginning at 2 p.m.
