Robby Massar tied the game with a two-run single in the eighth as Richmond rallied from 6-1 down to tie VMI 6-6 Tuesday at Pitt Field. The game was called after 10 innings due to darkness and will not be continued.
The 100th all-time meeting on the diamond between the Spiders and Keydets will go down as a draw after umpires called the game due to darkness following the 10th inning. Richmond travels to VMI for a game on March 30, but Tuesday’s game will not be resumed at that time.
Ryan Mallory finished three-for-three with a pair of RBI and a run, and Chris Cowelll, Phil Ruzbarky and Mike Mergenthaler each had two hits as the Spiders out-hit VMI 13-8. Of the game’s 21 hits – just two went for extra bases.
Richmond (3-5-1) threatened with the winning run in scoring position in both the ninth and 10th innings, but stranded runners at first and second in both frames and left 13 on base for the game.
Three-consecutive singles from Ruzbarsky, Cowell and Mallory triggered Richmond’s three-run uprising in the eighth – the latter of which scored Ruzbarsky from third to make the score 6-3. Derek Boliek was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Massar stroked his two-run single to left field and tie the game.
Richmond reliever Alex Maffett allowed a pair of unearned runs in the fifth and that was the last time VMI scored. Three Spider relievers combined to hold the Keydets (4-5-1) to just one batter over the minimum over the final four innings.
In the first, Richmond took advantage of a VMI error to score the game’s first run, but a two-run homer from Graham Sullivan gave VMI a 2-1 lead in the third. The Keydets tacked two unearned runs off lefty starter Bret Williams in the fourth, and extended the lead to 6-1 in the fifth. Williams went four innings and allowed seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
But the Spiders got one back in the fifth thanks to Massar’s sac fly and another in the sixth with an RBI from Mallory.
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