Baseball sweeps George Washington University

The University of Richmond baseball team went undefeated in a three-game series against George Washington University at Pitt Field from April 12 to April 14.

GWU took the first three runs of Friday’s game at the top of the second inning. UR was able to get on the board at the bottom of the same inning after a home run hit by redshirt first-year infielder Aidan O’Keefe. 

At the top of the third inning, George Washington went to work, scoring three more runs. At the bottom of the inning, after graduate outfielder Phil Bernstein hit a double, junior infielder Connor Larson completed another run for UR. 

Shortly after this, graduate outfielder Aaron Whitley scored, giving the Spiders three runs in comparison to GWU’s six. 

During the fourth inning, George Washington brought in another run.

The Spiders began scoring again at the bottom of the fifth inning with a home run hit by Whitley. Shortly after, sophomore infielder Jordan Jaffe hit a home run, allowing himself and junior outfielder D.J. Pacheco to each score. Redshirt senior catcher Zach Lass hit a single, leading O’Keefe and first-year catcher Jack Arcamone to each cross home plate. 

Whitley hit a double that allowed Lass and first-year infielder Joey Wilga to score. To end UR’s dominant inning, Bernstein singled, which allowed Whitley to score. The Spiders came out of the inning up 11-7. 

GWU tallied only one additional run during the remainder of the game, which occurred at the top of the ninth inning. This secured UR with an 11-8 win. 

Saturday’s game had a quiet start with no runs coming until the top of the seventh inning, when GWU picked up the first run. At the top of the eighth inning, GWU tallied another run, leaving the Spiders down 2-0. 

During the bottom of the ninth and final inning, a single, hit by Arcamone, allowed Lass and graduate infielder Jake Topolski to reach home plate and tie the game. Shortly after, O’Keefe made it home for UR’s game-winning run, making the final score 3-2. 

Sunday’s game saw UR score twice at the bottom of the first inning, with Whitley’s run coming first and Pacheco’s coming second. 

At the top of the second inning, GWU bounced back with a run in rebuttal, but at the bottom, redshirt first-year catcher RJ Rickabaugh hit a homerun to keep a two-run lead. 

UR scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Larson started the scoring with a home run, and, shortly after, Whitley did the same. Bernstein and Pachecho tallied one run a piece and, after this, a double hit by Rickabaugh led O’Keefe and Arcamone to each cross home plate. The scoring ended for the Spiders in this inning with a run from Jaffe.

At the top of the sixth inning, a run from GWU made the score 11-2. 

During the bottom of the seventh inning, Jaffe gave UR a 12-2 lead that lasted until the end of the game.

In a postgame interview, UR Head Coach Mik Aoki praised his pitchers for their consistency, which helped them sweep the series. 

“I thought Kyle pitched really well yesterday and I think Esteban pitched really well today,” Aoki said. “They came in, threw strikes, and I think they did a good job.”

Whitley, who completed four runs over the weekend, also spoke about what he believed led to his success.    

“I got some good pitches to hit and I was fortunate enough to put a barrel on it,” he said “Especially these past couple of days when it's windy it’ll carry out, so I got a little bit lucky on those. I just focused and got some good swings.”        

The Spiders play their next game on April 19 against Davidson College.

Contact sports writer Erica Rogers at erica.rogers@richmond.edu.