Spider Sports Recap | Spring break

Baseball

March 7: Win 9-8 against Princeton

The Spiders baseball team defeated Princeton University with senior Dom Toso batting graduate student Christian Beal across home plate for the win. Junior Alden Mathes pitched for eight of the nine innings, where he scratched out a career-high 10 batters and hit a home run in the first inning. Junior Jason Neff tied the game in the eighth inning with a two-run hit, which brought the score to 8-8 for Toso and Beal to secure the ninth run and win. 

March 10: Win 8-7 against Holy Cross

The Spiders came out swinging against Holy Cross with back-to-back wins, both wins by just one run. UR baseball defeated the College of the Holy Cross for its fourth walk-off win of their season and brought their record to 9-3. By the third inning, Holy Cross led 6-1, and the Spiders wouldn’t tie the game until the sixth inning. Mathes tallied his third triple of the season and scored off of Toso to gain UR a 7-6 lead. Toso scored the winning run in the 12th inning off a bad throw to second, giving him enough time to clear home plate.

March 11: Win 6-5 against Holy Cross

UR and Holy Cross met again on the Spider’s Pitt Field where the Spiders defeated the Crusaders. Toso, with the game-winning hit, leads the nation with 30 hits on the season and sits on a hit streak of 13 games. Junior pitcher Jeremy Neff played a little over six innings and allowed one run, but sat at a season-high eight strikeouts. Toso’s home run drove in sophomore Chase Conklin, Mathes and himself for a three-run hit. 

March 13: Loss 7-9 to Holy Cross

In their third straight game, the Spiders met their match on Sunday to the Crusaders. UR led in the first four innings but the Crusaders tied the game in the fifth and added a run in the sixth and ninth to secure the win over UR. The Spiders had 35 at-bats with eight hits, one of which was a home run by graduate Andrew Papantonis, who also led the Spiders with two runs. UR also recorded 27 putouts, first-year Jake Elbeery led the team with 10 and junior Jason Neff followed with six. 

Men’s basketball

March 10: Win 64-59 against Rhode Island

The Spiders traveled to Washington D.C. and defeated Rhode Island University to advance to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Graduate student Grant Golden led UR with 19 points with junior Tyler Burton close behind with 12 points. In the second half, the Spiders were down 55-47 with six minutes on the clock, but UR was able to close the gap to five points. Graduate student Jacob Gilyard tied the game at 4:10 with a corner-pocket three, and the Spiders then secured the win minutes later.  

March 11: Win 75-64 against VCU

UR made its way to the Atlantic 10 semifinals after defeating Virginia Commonwealth University in D.C. The last time the Spiders were in the A10 semifinals was in 2017, but UR found its way back. Gilyard was the top scorer for both the Spiders and Rams, sitting at a career-high 32 points, which broke a 2012 UR record for scored points in an A10 tournament. Gilyard also tallied up an additional four steals and seven three-pointers. Burton added 14 points and led UR in rebounds with eight. Graduate Nathan Cayo and senior Andre Gustavson added their respective 11 and 10 points.

March 12: Win 68-64 against Dayton

With almost 8,000 fans in attendance, the Spiders secured their third straight win in the A10 tournament with the win against Dayton University. Dayton led 33-25 in the first half, but UR was able to tally 43 points in the second half to secure the win. Golden led UR with 18 points, and Burton followed behind with 16. Gilyard and senior Matt Grace wrapped up the Spiders’ double-digit scorers with 11 and 12 respectively. Both Dayton and UR shot 25% from the three-point arc, but UR’s 78% from the free-throw line trumped Dayton’s 69%. 

March 13: Win 64-62 against Davidson

For the first time since 2011 and UR’s second time in program history, the Spiders won the A10 Championship after defeating Davidson University 64-62. The win secured UR’s place in the NCAA tournament. With 0:19 left in the game, Grace drove in and scored a layup and tied the game 62-62 after being down by five points in the final minutes. Grace made his second chance free, and with 0:02 on the clock, Gilyard made his free throw following a foul. Their combined frees secured the 64-62 win. Gilyard led the team with 26 points and four rebounds. Burton followed behind with 16 points and 12 rebounds. With free throws being the saving grace for the Spiders, UR shot a total 83% success rate in free throws.

Men’s golf

March 7-8: Placed 3rd out of 17

The men’s golf team took third place in the Ross Collegiate Classic in Southern Pines, North Carolina. The Spiders finished the RCC with a score of 882, behind Seton Hall University with 873 and Elon University with 877. Junior Lou Baker finished the event tied for fourth out of 108 total golfers — he shot two-under-par at 214. 

March 12-13: Forest Creek Collegiate

In the Forest Creek Collegiate, Davidson College and VCU tied for second place which forced the Spiders to finish in fourth place with a score of 591. A three-way tie between Davidson, VCU and George Mason left UR’s senior Michael Childress in the sixth place where he shot 145, which he tied with Longwood. Baker shot 147, which he tied for 10th place which he tied with seven other golfers. 

Women’s golf

March 7-8: Tied 9th out of 14

The women’s golf team tied for ninth place at the River Landing Classic in Wallace, North Carolina. The Spiders shot a team total score of 893, tying with the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Sophomore Rory Weinfurther tied for third place out of 78 golfers and matched the UR women’s golf program’s third-lowest score record, shooting a score of 73 and one over par. 

Men’s lacrosse

March 12: Loss 10-15 to Georgetown

The men’s lacrosse team lost to Georgetown University in a spring snow downfall. Junior Dalton Young led the Spiders with three goals. Graduate Ryan Lanchbury and first-year Max Merklinger added two goals each. Georgetown led the game with a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. UR allowed Georgetown to score only three goals, which UR matched with three goals of its own. First-year goalie Zach Vigue and sophomore goalie Devin Craven had a combined 14 saves, with six from Vigue and eight from Craven.

Women’s lacrosse 

March 9: Loss 10-20 to UVA

The women’s lacrosse team’s five-game win streak came to a screeching halt when it was defeated by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Senior Marina Miller led the Spiders and tied her career-high with four goals. First-year Colleen Quinn, junior Lindsey Frank and graduate student Nicole Concannon added a respective three, two and one goal. 

Women’s tennis

March 8: Loss 1-5 to Campbell

The women’s tennis team traveled to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and was defeated by Campbell University. Fifth-year Emily Dunbar won her singles match while she and sophomore Sara Salemyr won their doubles match by 6-3.

March 11: Loss 0-5 to Charleston

The Spiders were defeated by the College of Charleston at the Cougars’ home court. Dunbar and Salemyr had a one-point defeat in their doubles match with a score of 6-7. Sophomore Carly Cohen and junior Marta Buendia also suffered a doubles-loss with a 4-6 score.  

Contact sports co-editor Andrew Cardounel at andrew.cardounel@richmond.edu.