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2025 Baseball Season

If you were to tell me we’d have 2 grand slams this game and still lose, I wouldn’t believe you. It was nice thinking Richmond baseball was good again, but alas.
 
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Gameday (x2)! The Spiders (21-7, 4-5 A10) head north to take on Rhode Island (16-12, 6-3), and the series has been slightly modified, and we will play two games today, with the second game being available to stream on ESPN+. Here are the Richmond probable starters, per game notes; you will notice the change:
  • Friday, Noon ET: Esteban Rodriguez (24 IP, 1-1, 3.00 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 21 K/12 BB, .247 BAA)
  • Friday, 3PM: Gerry Peacock (16 IP, 2-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 12 K/6 BB, .246 BAA)
  • Sunday, Noon: TBD
Rhode Island will be a good test for the Spiders as we turn the calendar to April, and hopefully leave the stale end of March in the rear-view mirror. URI also had an interesting end to the month, dropping a home series to GW (3/21-3/23), followed by a mid-week loss vs Quinnipiac, taking a series at UMass, and most recently winning an extra-innings mid-week game at Boston College on Wednesday.

The Rams are a solid offensive team, slashing .307/.431/.506 on the season. They are third in the A10 in the A10 in home runs (38), and also possess some speed in the lineup, as they are super aggressive on the basepaths (1st in the A10 in triples with 15, and 4th in stolen bases with 62, albeit with a ~73% success rate). They have a couple of potent power bats in the lineup (Jack Hopko and DJ Perron each have 6 home runs and 36 RBIs) but the real name to watch in this lineup is Anthony DePino, Senior 3B. He was named A10 Co-Player of the week on March 5, but has also received some National recognition, being named fifth-best third baseman in Division I Baseball's midseason rankings last week, and was the top Mid-Major name. He is URI's career home runs leader, and earlier this season, he recorded a 14 game hitting streak. He is having his most impressive season this campaign, and his average is over .400 and has an OPS of 1.400. He can also steal some bags too, as he is 10-13 on the season in that regard.

The Rhode Island pitching staff has had an average season, though are pitching much better in conference play, with a staff ERA under 5.00 and a Batting average against of .236. One of the starters we should see this weekend is Trystan Levesque, a Grad Student LHP who has been with the team since 2021. After a season ending injury 2 starts in last year, he has followed up his 2023 campaign (100+ strikeout, 4.01 ERA) with an up and down in 2025. He was named A10 Co-Pitcher of the Week on 2/24 after his 10 innings of scoreless ball with 9 strikeouts against Oregon (in a 1-0 loss, brutal). He has had three starts of less than 5 IP and 4+ ER, but in his last two A10 starts against GW and UMass has pitched a combined 11 innings, with 2 ER, 8 hits, 5 BB and 9 Ks. The other two starters should be Junior Jeremy Urena and Freshman Jake Cullen. The latter has lowered his season ERA from 19.29 to 4.78 in his last five starts over 21.2 innings.

A series win would do wonders for a team desperate for a quick turnaround. I think you can get away with only taking 1 here on a road series, but then you put yourself in a position to need a sweep at home the following week against a weak UMass team.
 
M4: Ooof. E-Rod already out of the game and Bilka in after 2.2 Innings. 5 hits, 2 walks, 1 wild pitch, 5 earned runs on 67 pitches. Bilka got out of the 3rd inning with 2 runners on.

Unfortunately he has started the Bottom of the 4th inning with a double, wild pitch, and a walk. Runners on 1st and 3rd for the 2-3-4 hitters.

Update, E4: Strikeout, line out to first, fly out. Keeps the game 5-5 heading to the 5th.
 
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Bilka gets out of it and we're still tied at 5-5 through 4.

This is more of the same problemthough...we jumped out to a 5-1 lead through two innings and our pitching can't protect it at all. Our offense is gonna have to score double digit runs most games just to keep us in it. This is feeling a lot like the last few years.
 
E7: Spiders lead 8-5

Bilka has now thrown 4.1 scoreless innings on 67 pitches (2 hits, 2 walks, 4 Ks). His season high pitches is 72 pitches. Where does Aoki go to to get these last 6 outs?
 
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Spiders only need to use three pitchers after a vintage Bilka performance!

Pitching
  • E-Rod: 2.2 IP, 5 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BB, 2 Ks
  • Bilka: 5.1 IP, 3H, 2 BB, 6 Ks
  • Willets: 1 IP, 2 Ks
Hitting
  • O'Brien: 2-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
  • Wilga: 3-5, 2B
  • Arcamone: 2-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI
 
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