April 25, 2004

Box Score

Richmond, Va. - Duquesne University's baseball team was unable to hold onto a 7-6 lead in the eighth and dropped the get-away game to the host Richmond Spiders, 12-7, Sunday afternon at Pitt Field. Senior Dan Schwartzbauer led the Dukes' offense with a grand slam home run and five RBI on 2-for-4 at the plate along with a walk. He also stole his 14th base on the season.

The Dukes are now 12-19, 5-7 in the Atlantic 10 while UR raised their mark to 21-16, 9-3 in league play.

Duquesne surged out to an early lead, scoring five runs in the second when Bill Swart's walk forced in Jonathan Kelly and Schwartzbauer's bases loaded smash to right center cleared the bases. Richmond tallied a run in the bottom of the second.

Steve Maiolo's double brought in Pete Maropis in the top of the third to return DU's margin to five, 6-1. The Spiders narrowed the deficit to 6-5 with four runs in the fifth and then tied the game on Bryan Pritz' RBI single in the sixth.

Schwartzbauer's RBI single drove in Randy Vulakovich in the top of the eighth to return the lead to the Dukes at 7-6. Pitcher Bob Reifschneider (2-5) stuck out the first UR batter in the bottom of the inning but left the game with the bases loaded after a single and two walks loaded the bases.

Ben Zeskind's two-run single put Richmond back on top 8-7. DU got the second out at the plate. A two-run single and a two-run triple pushed Richmond's lead to 12-7 before an infield out ended the rally. Richmond's victory gave them a sweep of the weekend series. John Cronin (4-1), who had allowed the Dukes' final run, benefited from this teammates' offensive production for the win.

DU returns to its non-conference schedule on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 when the Dukes host Kent State at 3:00 p.m. at Duquesne Field in Green Tree.