University of Richmond
32-17, 13-14
VCU
14-37, 7-20
Spider Baseball Sweeps VCU
05/11/2025 | Baseball
Richmond, 32-17 on the year and 13-14 in A-10 action, returns to Pitt Field to host Old Dominion Tuesday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. UR will wrap up the regular season with an A-10 series against Davidson beginning Thursday, May 15 at Pitt Field.
The Spiders struck quickly against the Rams (14-37, 7-20 A-10). Aaron Whitley began the game with a hit-by-pitch before advancing to third on Jordan Jaffe's 200th career hit as a Spider. Whitley scored on Phil Bernstein's sacrifice fly before Jaffe crossed the plate on Michael Elko's base hit through the right side of the infield for a 2-0 lead.
Whitley doubled the Spiders lead, 4-0, in the fourth inning with a two-RBI base hit to center field, scoring Elko and D.J. Pacheco.
VCU broke up Joey Giordano's no-hitter in the fourth, taking advantage of a walk, a double and a three-run home run to cut the Spiders lead to one, 4-3. Giordano went three and a third of an inning, scattering three hits and two walks while striking out two.
Richmond quickly pushed the lead out beyond VCU's reach in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Pacheco scored the first run of the fame with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Joey Wilga hit a three-run home run to left center to give UR an 8-3 lead.
Chayse Gruber collected the victory after tossing two and two-thirds of an inning of scoreless action, while scattering two hits.
With two outs in the sixth, Brady O'Brien hit his 19th home run of the season, a three-run blast to left center field, scoring Whitley and Bernstein to make it 11-3. Whitley picked up the second of two stolen bases on the day earlier in the inning, collecting his 33rd and 34th stolen bases of the season.
Three batters later, Wilga picked up two more RBI with a base hit through the right side before he scored on a VCU error for the sixth run of the frame.
After the Spiders loaded the bases by drawing three-straight walks in the top of the seventh, Elko hit a deep sacrifice fly down the right field line to score Bernstein. In the next at bat, Pacheco launched his own three-run home run of the game for his sixth home run of the season to make it 18-6.
VCU collected three runs on Spider reliever Sam Young in the seventh. Young got one out but walked four of the five batters faced. Dylan Siesky got the final two outs of the game, allowing one hit and walking one with a strikeout.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gruber, Chayse (4-1)
L: McGrady, J. (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Elko, Michael 1
HR: O'Brien, Brady 1 ; Pacheco, D.J. 1 ; Wilga, Joey 1
RBI: Whitley, Aaron 2 ; Bernstein, Phil 1 ; O'Brien, Brady 3 ; Elko, Michael 2 ; Pacheco, D.J. 4 ; Wilga, Joey 5
SH: Larson, Connor 1
SF: Bernstein, Phil 1 ; Elko, Michael 1 ; Pacheco, D.J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Whitley, Aaron 2 ; Jaffe, Jordan 1 ; Bernstein, Phil 3 ; Arcamone, Jack 2 ; O'Brien, Brady 2 ; Elko, Michael 3 ; Pacheco, D.J. 3 ; Wilga, Joey 2
SB: Whitley, Aaron 2
CS: Bernstein, Phil 1
HBP: Whitley, Aaron 1 ; Pacheco, D.J. 1
Batting:
2B: Jimenez, A. 1 ; Swenson, S. 1
HR: Swenson, S. 1
RBI: Lee, Jacob 1 ; Swenson, S. 5
Base Running:
RUNS: Henson, W. 1 ; Estrada, D. 1 ; Lee, Jacob 1 ; Jimenez, A. 1 ; Swenson, S. 1 ; Kleinman, C. 1
