Matt Zink had three hits and Bret Williams drove in three runs as the Richmond baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore with an 8-1 victory Sunday at Pitt Field. The win is the Spiders’ fifth in a row.
Richmond improved to 9-10-2 overall and recorded its first three-game series win since sweeping Lafayette early last season. The Spiders’ winning streak is the team’s longest since starting the 2009 season 7-0.
Mike Mergenthaler had two hits and reached base all five times thanks to three walks. His first inning RBI tied the game at 1-1 after UMES scored first and led for the first time since Friday’s third inning.
Williams untied the score with a sacrifice fly later in the first inning and Richmond never looked back.
Sophomore starter Shawn O’Neill picked up his second win (2-0) by scattering three hits and the first-inning run over five innings. The Philadelphia native’s seven strikeouts were a career high.
Fellow Philly native Anthony Cafagna fanned four over the final four scoreless frames with two hits and recorded his first save.
Zink drove in a run in the second and Bryan Conway doubled home Robby Massar in the third. A sacrifice fly from Phil Ruzbarsky, along with Williams’ two-run double allowed the Spiders to blow the game open with a three-spot in the sixth. Chris Cowell’s RBI double in the eighth inning capped the scoring.
Of Richmond’s 11 hits in the game, five were doubles.
Ruzbarsky had an RBI and scored, but saw his career-best hitting streak halted at nine games. The junior hit .361 (13-for-36) over the nine-game stretch with five doubles, nine RBI, nine runs, three walks and three steals.
UMES (1-17) scored in the first thanks to a walk, wild pitch and Luis Mena’s RBI single to left field. But that was all the offense for the Hawks and starter Karim Gonzalez was tagged the loss (1-4).
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