March 19, 2008

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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Freshman Billy Barber drove in five runs for the second consecutive game, hit two more home runs and led the Richmond baseball team to a 14-9 win over Old Dominion Wednesday at Pitt Field. The Spiders have won three-straight games and host La Salle at 3 p.m. Thursday in their Atlantic 10 opener.

After being named a Louisville National Player of the Week and the A-10 Performer of the Week, Barber picked up where he left off by going three-for-four with five RBI and three runs scored. The Fredericksburg, Va. native has homered in four-straight games and leads the team with a .426 average, nine homers, 31 RBI and a .985 slugging percentage.

"This is an incredible run for him," said head coach Mark McQueen. "Billy is seeing the ball very well, he's being selective at the plate and it's paying off."

The win lifted Richmond to 8-11-1 overall and is the team's third-consecutive victory and fourth in its last six games. The Spiders are hitting .408 as a team over this three-game winning streak.

Barber and fellow freshman Mike Mergenthaler each belted two-run homers for the Spiders in the bottom of the third inning, answering with six runs in the frame after the Monarchs (10-9) had tacked six on the board in the top half.

Mergenthaler finished with a hit and four RBI to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Hank Coogan's hitting streak reached 11, thanks to his three-hit, three-run performance, while Ryan Metzroth had a hit and an RBI to stretch his hitting streak to a team-leading 12th-straight. Austin Reilly also had three of Richmond's 15 hits.

"Overall things are coming together for us offensively, said McQueen. "I like our approach. We're jumping on teams early and keeping the pressure on. Now we have to turn our focus to tomorrow as we open up conference play with La Salle."

Staked to an early 3-0 lead on consecutive RBIs from Metzroth, Evan Stehle and Mergenthaler in the first inning, freshman starting pitcher Anthony Cafagna set ODU down in order in the first two innings, but a grand slam from David Burns highlighted the six-run third inning for the visitors as they claimed a 6-3 advantage. .

But Richmond poured it on with six in third, a run in the fifth on Mergenthaler's fourth RBI and four more in the fifth on a Metzroth RBI single and Barber's three-run bomb and

Cafagna went three innings with five strikeouts, giving way to Josh Horn who pitched the next 2.2 innings and earn his first win of the season (1-1). The junior fanned two with no walks and allowed two runs. Kyle Leith and Barber finished the game off, combining to allow one unearned tally over the final 3.1 innings.

OSU starter David Wagner, who was knocked out after allowing nine runs on nine hits in the first 2.1 innings, was on the short end of the decision.