Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994 TAG: 9405120050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The University of Richmond's baseball team lost one lead and Virginia Tech couldn't hold two, before the Spiders took another stab at it in the ninth inning and stuck the Hokies with an 11-10 defeat.
Richmond did it by outguessing the Hokies on a bottom-of-the-ninth suicide squeeze, parlaying a pitchout into a game-ending catcher-to-third baseman double play.
The Spiders had taken a 10-6 lead with a six-run sixth inning, but Tech scored once in the sixth and three times in the eighth to pull to 11-10.
The Hokies' Kevin Barker singled off Henry Ogden, who then hit Tech catcher Denny Hedspeth with a pitch. Sal Colangelo squared to bunt but took two balls; starter Dalton Maine made his third relief appearance of the year, but gave up Colangelo's perfect sacrifice up the third-base line.
Up came freshman shortstop Kevin Kurilla, playing only because of an injury to starter Mike Terhune. Richmond pulled its corner infielders in, conceding the tying run if Kurilla bounced to a middle infielder.
Kurilla took a strike. As Maine delivered, Barker broke from third. Maine pitched out wide right; catcher Chris Piela tagged Barker, then looked up and saw Hedspeth headed for third. A line-drive throw and quick tag ended the game.
"Kevin's one of our best bunters," said Tech coach Chuck Hartman, whose team is 27-21 after losing for the second time in three games against the Spiders this year. "We probably should've put it on the first pitch. They guessed right. Denny never should've gotten out."
Richmond improved its record to 33-17, setting a school record for victories in a season. The Spiders won for the 10th time in 11 games.
"We were thinking whether to put [Kurilla] on and play back for the double play," said Ron Atkins, Richmond's coach. "There was no way we were going to get [on-deck hitter] Popeye Smith on a double-play ball. The first pitch [to Kurilla] was a strike. Our pitching coach said, `Let's pitch it out.' Sure enough, he [Barker] was coming.
"If we wait til the third pitch to pitch out, we might lose the ballgame."
The 3 1/2 hour affair was typical of Tech's annual games in Salem. In six Hokies appearances at Municipal Field since 1990, the winning team has scored 10 or more runs five times.
Tech schedules a game in Salem annually, but was playing there for the first time since 1992. Last year's game with Virginia was rained out.
The Hokies had won five of their past six and 15 of 18 games. But Tech got bad news Tuesday when it learned Terhune, a freshman who was hitting .283 (.333 in Metro Conference games) and playing solid defense, will miss the last three regular-season games and the Metro tournament May 18-22 with a sprained ankle suffered in practice Monday.
Still, Tech took a 4-2 lead in the third inning Wednesday, thanks in part to Bryan King's two-run single.
The Hokies scored seven runs in seven innings off Richmond starter Bobby St. Pierre, who nevertheless won his fifth consecutive decision and is one victory shy of the school record (Sean Gavaghan was 11-6 in 1991).
Tech starter Ron Preston struggled, and the Hokies' thin bullpen was punctured again. Richmond tied it in the fifth on Sean Casey's RBI single and Tom Scioscia's pop-fly single to left field. The ball fell between Tech left fielder Colangelo and third baseman Bo Durkac. Jeff Dausch stopped at third, but Colangelo threw the ball toward the bag - where Tech had no one covering. The throw bounced off Dausch, who trotted home.
by CNB