Richmond baseball swept by Fordham

The University of Richmond baseball team was swept by the Fordham University Rams during their March 28-30 series, despite strong offensive performances. 

The Spiders came into their weekend matchup against the Rams an impressive 21-4 record, with quality wins against the University of Virginia, North Carolina State University, and a win earlier in the week at James Madison University, while holding a 4-2 record in the Atlantic 10. 

Fordham, on the other hand, stood at a less impressive 11-15, but were winners of 6 of their last 8 games and matched UR’s 4-2 record in the  Atlantic 10. 

Friday’s game quickly set the tone for what would be the rest of the series as Fordham’s offense got going early with a three run home run in the top of the first. The Spiders offense quickly responded with a solo home run off the bat of graduate outfielder Phil Bernstein, his third of the season. Bernstein, whose .422 batting average is the fifth best in the A-10, was recently voted the 90th best outfielder in college baseball, according to the D1Baseball website. 

The Spiders were able to tie and then took the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Bernstein, junior infielder Jordan Jaffe, and graduate infielder Brady O’Brien chipped in RBIs to give Richmond a 6-3 lead. Jaffe struck again in the eighth as his two run homer put the Spiders ahead 8-4. Jaffe was strong with runners in scoring position throughout the series as his 6 runs batted in over the weekend brought him to 40 on the season, the fourth highest mark in the A-10. 

The lead seemed secure heading into the ninth, but then the Rams’ bats got going. Fordham strung together seven hits as well as two walks and an error, and brought nine runs across home plate. Even though Richmond was able to add one in the bottom of the ninth, they dropped game one 13-9. 

Fordham picked up right where they left off in game two as they enjoyed a three run lead before Richmond could even come to bat. The Rams have been a very aggressive team on the base paths, as their 71 stolen bases this year are second highest in the A-10. They swiped eight bases in game two. 

The Rams collected six hits including a pair of home runs, leading to an 11-1 halfway through the game. The Spiders would not go down quietly though. Led by O’Brien, the Spiders slugged their way back into the game. The third baseman blasted a two run homer to right-center in the fourth, then followed it up an inning later with another two homer an inning later to make it a 12-8 game.

 “I think not trying to do too much.” O’Brien explained his hot hitting performance postgame Sunday. “At times on Friday I felt like I got outside of myself a little bit and I tried to go back to the basics of what [Hitting Coach Collin Radack and I] talked about and it ended up working out well.” 

O’Brien capped off the day by mashing another home run, this time a three run shot to left center. He finished the day with 3 hits and 7 runs batted in.

Despite this, the Spiders still fell 15-11 in the second game.

The series finale followed a similar recipe. Spiders pitchers had trouble limiting the Rams hitters in game three; they again put up three runs in the first inning and kept pouring it on. The Spiders found themselves down 13-0 after the top of the fourth inning. 

The Spiders had no answer to slow down the Rams’ barrage of offense. “We never seemed to pitch in advantage counts for us,” said UR Head Coach Mik Aoki postgame, citing the walks and pitching from behind as the cause of the pitching struggles. “It was kind of a clinic on what not to do as a pitching staff.” 

The Rams' overpowering offense totaled a staggering 41 runs and launched 15 home runs across three games. 

Despite the score, the Spiders began to claw their way back in the game. With this, the Spiders’ offense was consistent across all three games, as O’Brien added, “I think we have a resilient group and with our offense we’re never out of a game. I feel like one through nine and even with guys pinch hitting like Joey Wilga, it’s just such a deep offensive group that we’re never really out of a game,”

Led by freshman outfielder Trevor Dosenbach, whose bases loaded single brought home two runs and put the Spiders on the board, the Spiders started to get back into the game. Two batters later none other than O’Brien launched another home run, this time a grandslam that cleared the batter’s eye in straight away center field. 

Even in the bottom of the ninth, down 21-10, the Spiders still found a way to make things interesting. O’Brien finished his spectacular weekend with his second home run of the game and fifth of the series. Three batters later, sophomore infielder Joey Wilga followed suit, knocking a three run pinch-hit home run. 

The Spiders weren’t done yet. Graduate outfielder Aaron Whitley drew a walk, followed by singles from Dosenbach and Jaffe, which loaded the bases. Sophomore catcher/designated hitter Jack Arcamone crushed a grand slam to center that brought the Spiders within 3 runs. Arcamone has been one of the best offensive performers in the A-10 this season; he is tied for the best batting average in the A-10, .434, leads the league with 16 doubles, is tied for first in RBIs at43, and has 9 home runs – second-best in the league 

Despite the valiant effort, the Spiders rally came up short and they fell in the series finale 21-18. “We have to pitch better,” said Aoki following the loss, “We put up more than enough runs to have won the series or swept the series but you can’t give up 45 or 50 something runs and expect to win.” 

The Spiders hope to get back in the win column as they travel up north to take on the University of Rhode Island Rams in a three game series beginning on April 4.

Contact sports writer Jeremy Young at jeremy.young@richmond.edu