Jacob Mayers homered in the third inning and Bret Williams scattered three hits with five strikeouts over seven shutout innings as Richmond took down No. 25 Charlotte, 3-0, Friday night at Hayes Stadium in Charlotte.
For Richmond, its marks the program’s first win over a Top 25 team since a 2007 win over No. 10 Wichita State as the Spiders improved to 23-19-2 overall and kept pace with the A-10 leaders at 10-6 in the league.
A-10 leading Charlotte (34-11, 13-6) was blanked at home for the first time since a 5-0 loss to No. 25 North Carolina last season, snapping a streak of 60-straight home games without being shutout.
In his first game back after a 28-game absence due to a hand injury, Mayers picked up right where he left off as the sophomore from Mechanicsville, Va. launched a solo home run over the left-center field wall to give the Spiders a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Pitching and defense were the story from there to make Mayers’ homer stand as the game-winner. Williams improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the A-10 with another Friday masterpiece. The sophomore lefty fanned five and walked just three, while scattering three singles over seven shutout innings.
Junior Alex Maffett allowed just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts over the final two frames to nail down his sixth save of the year.
Richmond played error-free ball for the 10th time this season (and third in the last four games), and got a highlight-reel catch from junior Phil Ruzbarsky, who scaled the left-field fence and robbed Corey Shaylor of an extra-base hit that would have tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning.
Charlotte starter Andrew Smith fired 8.1 innings and fanned a career-high 10 batters, but was hung the loss (8-3). He allowed three hits with two runs and two walks and turned a 1-0 deficit over to his bullpen in the ninth.
But the Spiders would load the bases with one out and Billy Barber came through with single off 49er reliever Wes Hartley that scored Matt Zink and Mike Mergenthaler to give Richmond insurance.
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