Baseball drops A-10 Championship as successful weekend ends in heartbreak for the Spiders

The Spiders had to go into the Atlantic 10 Championship game with a mindset similar to that of a wide receiver who just dropped a pass, or a goalie who just allowed a goal – with a short memory.

The University of Richmond baseball team had lost to Virginia Commonwealth University less than 24 hours before having to turn right around and play them again with not only their season, but the program’s first A-10 championship since 2003 on the line. 

Not to mention, that quick turnaround having to be made against a team the Spiders were all too familiar with. This was UR’s eighth time playing VCU in nine days, and if anything this tournament proved the crosstown rivalry between these two schools knows no sport. 

Whether it’s basketball, or in this case baseball, the question of who will dominate the collegiate athletic scene in the city of Richmond is always a hotly contested question mark heading into each season. 

And with four innings already down in the scorebook on May 25 at Capital One Park in Tysons, Virginia, UR and VCU were all knotted up at zero runs apiece, as both side’s pitchers were dictating play up to that point. 

And then came the fifth inning, where things began to unravel for the Spiders. In one half inning, a 0-0 tie suddenly turned into a commanding 8-0 lead for the Rams. Just like that, with a few pitches, VCU had set itself up for a repeat of its successful outcome against the Spiders back in the 2022 A-10 Championship. 

After pitching the first three innings for the Spiders, junior right-hander Esteban Rodriguez was replaced by redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Cole Hentschel in the fourth inning. When all set and done, Hentschel ultimately added 5 earned runs to his average, as he was on the mound when the score swung in favor of the Rams. 

It started with a VCU double. One out later and then Hentschel hit a batter, which put another player on base. Then, a single brought home the Rams’ first run.  

With runners at first and second base, Hentschel walked a VCU player, which loaded the bases. Then, he hit another batter, which brought home another run, leading the Spiders to go to their bullpen for a substitute pitcher.

Unfortunately for junior pitcher Jason Shockley, he took over for Hentschel with the bases loaded. And while Shockley did strike out the first batter he faced, a triple from the next batter in the Rams’ lineup cleared the bases and brought the score to 5-0 in favor of VCU. 

Before Shockley was able to work his way out of the inning, he allowed a three-run home run, which grew the deficit even larger to 8-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth. 

Unfortunately for the Spiders, from that inning onward, they were too far from contention or any hope of getting back in the game. 

UR went on to score its one and only run in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to an RBI single from sophomore first baseman Jordan Jaffe, which avoided the shutout. However, the Rams were not finished with their championship effort, as they went on to score eight more runs over the final two innings, finishing the game in front 16-1. 

Hentschel picked up the loss in the outing and the Spiders went through six pitchers throughout the game. Jaffe had the only Spiders’ RBI and was one of four players with two hits on the day. 

Jaffe, along with graduate right-handed pitcher Kyle Roche, first-year designated hitter Jack Arcamone and graduate right fielder Phil Bernstein all made the A-10 All-Championship Team. 

On the year, graduate center fielder Aaron Whitley won the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, first-year right-handed pitcher Jackson Hinchliffe made the All-Rookie Team, Rodriguez made the All-Conference Second Team and Bernstein made the All-Academic Team. 

Despite the loss, in UR Head Coach Mik Aoki’s first season as head coach, the Spiders were able to get back to the A-10 Championship. 

“Coach Aoki’s coaching style is definitely different than our previous coach,” Hentschel said in a press conference back on May 15. “And Coach is very energetic – he’s at every practice running the show and it’s been a lot of fun.” 

And while this year, the team was not able to come out the other side victorious, just as they failed to do in 2022, the future appears to be bright for a team that finished with a losing record and still managed to win three games in the A-10 Tournament. 

With run producers like Jaffe and Arcamone still having several seasons of collegiate eligibility remaining, the Spiders have a chance to make dividends in a competitive A-10 conference come the 2025 season.