__Tribe sweeps the season series to go to 24-19 overall for the year; Winslow earns second win of season__
p. The College continued dominating over the University of Richmond Tuesday, combining 12 hits with strong pitching to beat the Spiders 13-4. The win improved the Tribe’s overall record to 24-19 and helped to break the team out of a three-game skid suffered at the hands of Virginia Commonwealth University.
p. “Richmond is at the top of their conference, and they are always a solid team,” junior center fielder Paul Juliano said. “We came into the game with the right mindset and determination.”
p. Freshman starting pitcher Cody Winslow earned his second victory of the season and improved his record to 2-0 as he pitched five innings, allowing only one earned run on six hits. Coming out of the bullpen, junior relief pitcher Jimmy Drury pitched three solid innings and fellow junior reliever Sean Grieve pitched a perfect ninth, striking out all three batters he faced to close the game.
p. The Tribe got on the scoreboard early, as sophomore right fielder Robbie Nickle homered to right center in the second inning and the College scored another three runs in the third. Junior catcher Tim Park and sophomore first baseman Mike Sheridan started the third-inning rally with back-to-back singles and senior third baseman Greg Sexton was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.
p. Junior designated hitter Greg Maliniak registered a single that plated both Park and Sheridan, and sophomore left fielder Jeff Jones, who went 0-4 on the day, grounded out and scored Sexton.
“Although it might not have shown in the stat sheet, Jeff Jones provided the necessary juice we needed to get past a great Richmond ball club,” Maliniak said.
p. The Tribe struck again in the fifth. Sheridan doubled down the right field line and Maliniak drew a walk. On the final pitch of Maliniak’s at-bat, Sheridan attempted to steal third and scored on a throwing error from the Richmond catcher. During the play, Maliniak advanced to second. Jones drew a walk, and two batters later Nickle was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sophomore James Williamson, pinch-hitting for sophomore shortstop Lanny Stanfield, registered a single to right field to clear the bases and give the Tribe an 8-1 lead.
p. The College scored again in the eighth as a home run from Maliniak scored Park and Sexton. The Tribe pushed across two more in the top of the ninth with a double from senior second baseman Brent McWhorter scoring Juliano and a sacrifice fly from Park plating Nickle.
p. “The win was a total team effort, and that’s exactly what we need every day down the stretch. We want to use this win to build momentum heading into the [University of North Carolina-Wilmington] series this weekend,” Juliano said.
p. The Tribe will face UNC-Wilmington at Plumeri Park this weekend. An event will be held Saturday to “Strike Out ALS,” commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. For every student who attends, $14 will be donated to the K ALS Foundation.
