RICHMOND, VA – Monmouth Baseball led heading to the eighth inning, but Richmond scored three times to take a 7-6 lead, eventually topping MU in the final game of the weekend's Spider Invitational. Vinny Capra's run-scoring fielder's choice proved to be the difference as the Spiders used the late comeback to earn a win.

After Richmond jumped to a 2-0 lead thanks to a Capra run-scoring triple, Monmouth responded with a five-run fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Zach Schild (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) drove in a run with a base hit before John LaRocca (Plainview, NY/St. Dominic) scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at two. An error allowed two more Hawks to score, before Kyle Norman (Ellicott City, MD/Good Counsel) extended his games reached base streak to 15 with an RBI single to make it 5-2.

Capra's run-scoring base hit in the fifth got Richmond within 5-3, with MU extending it back to 6-3 on a Richmond error in the sixth. Anthony Forte made it a two-run game again in the sixth with an RBI single before the Spiders rallied for the lead in the eighth. The first three batters reached, the third being Michael Strait, who doubled to trim the Richmond deficit to 6-5. Following a pitching change, DJ Lee singled to tie the game and Capra's fielder's choice made it 7-6 Richmond, the eventual final.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"MAAC play starts next weekend and everybody starts 0-0. This weekend, we gave the opponent too many runs.  It's tough to continually play like that.  We battled today and showed some toughness, but at the end of the day it is about playing 'heads up baseball'. Klepchick was real good today and our lineup battled. We have been on the road five straight weekends and look forward to starting conference play." – Dean Ehehalt

-Kyle Norman has reached base in every game this season, running the streak to 15 games today.
-Zach Schild has recorded a hit in 13 consecutive starts dating back to last season. He has not gone hitless in a start since March 19, 2017 at George Washington, and has done it just twice in his career.
-Ryan Steckline posted his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
-Shaine Hughes did not play for the first time this year and second time in the last two seasons.
-Ryan Steckline ran his scoreless innings streak to begin his career to 6.2.
-Seven of Monmouth's 11 losses have been decided by three runs or less.
-The game marked Monmouth's third one-run loss of the year.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth was outhit by Richmond 9-8.
-Dalton Light earned his first win of the year for the Spiders, while Layne Looney collected his third save.
-MU falls to 4-11, while Richmond is now 11-8.
-MU pitching limited Richmond to 2-for-11 with two outs.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is scheduled to play Wagner on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. in Staten Island, NY.