May 25, 2007

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - In its fourth game in three days, Xavier could not continue its winning ways as Richmond ended the Musketeers run in the 2007 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship on Friday afternoon at Fifth Third Field by a score of 5-4. Senior Adam Lipski finished the final game of his career with a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Xavier ends its season with a 29-31 record, while Richmond improves to 32-27 overall.

The Musketeers struck first as the first three batters started the game with singles. Adam Pasono continued to swing a hot bat and led off the game with a single up the middle. Pasono would pick up his seventh stolen base of the season to put himself into scoring position before Neil Lindgren hit a bouncing ball over the first baseman to plate Pasono and give XU the 1-0. Robbie Kelley followed with his sixth single of the championship to leave runners at first and second with no outs. After two quick outs, Jordan Wolf hit a bounding ball to third and a great hustle play by Kelley beat the third baseman to the bag to keep the inning alive before scoring on a wild pitch to push the advantage to 2-0.

Richmond would respond with four-run, five-hit second inning to take the lead from the Musketeers. Four straight hits started the inning for the Spiders before third baseman, Cameron Brown, launched a two-run homerun into the left field seats to take the 3-2 lead. The bases remained loaded after an intentional walk but a great play by right fielder Neil Lindgren ended the inning after he caught a shallow fly in right and gunned down Benji Marshall trying to score.

XU would knot the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth as Pasono delivered a two-RBI single up the middle to plate Drew Schmidt and Matt Waskerwitz. Both moved into scoring position on Waskerwitz's single to left after Schmidt hustled around second to take third ahead of the throw and Waskerwitz advanced on the throw.

The Spiders would take the lead for good in the top of the sixth as two singles and an intentional walk loaded the bases with two outs. UR's cleanup hitter, Vince Riggi would work the count full before watching ball four bounce in the dirt to close out the scoring and leave Richmond with the 5-4 advantage.

Lipski finished his final game 3-for-5 at the plate and ended the championship with a .467 average (7-for-15) to lead the Musketeers. The senior ends the season with a 10-game hitting streak and also finishes second on the team with a .317 average. Pasono tallied a 2-for-4 afternoon with two RBIs. The sophomore finished with a championship-high nine hits, followed by teammates Lipski and Andy Zellers, who are tied for second with seven.

Freshman Zac Richard got the nod on the hill for XU's fourth game of the championship and was roughed up in his first start since April 25 against Ohio State. Richard went 1.1 innings and allowed four earned on six hits with a walk. Junior Kyle Cowden came in to provide 4.1 innings and scattered four hits, allowing only one earned run, while striking out two but picked up the loss after loading the bases in the top of the sixth. Mark Janszen closed out the game for XU as the senior went the final 3.1 innings, giving up three hits and two walks.

The Musketeers end the season at 29-31 overall and finished in fourth place in the A-10 with a 17-10 mark. Both records established new marks in program history. The 17 wins in conference play is the most ever recorded by a Musketeer team and the 29 wins this season marks the most wins since the 1997 squad tied the school record with 32. The two wins in the A-10 Championship is also the most ever recorded by a XU team in five trips.