Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Mike Mergenthaler hit a solo homer and knocked in three runs, including the winning tally on a 10-inning groundout, as visiting Richmond beat Norfolk State 7-6 Tuesday night at Marty L. Miller Field.

In the top of the 10th, Chris Cuppia reached on a one-out infield single off NSU reliever Marcus Taylor (Tampa, Fla.), the last of five Spartan pitchers on the night. Taylor then hit Andrew Lowry with a pitch, and Hank Coogan reached on catcher's interference to load the bases. 

Next up was Mergenthaler, who hit a slow roller to first. NSU first baseman Chase Bailey (Roanoke, Va.) tagged first for the second out and threw home to get the hard-charging Cuppia. But Cuppia was ruled safe when he slid around the tag of Spartan catcher Brad Stephenson (Chesapeake, Va.) for the go-ahead run.

Matt Trent (2-3) worked four innings of relief for the win, setting down the side in order in the bottom of the 10th. He struck out three. Taylor (0-1) took the loss, though the run that scored against him was unearned.

Richmond led 2-0 after Derek Boliek's two-run double in the top of the second. The Spartans got a run back in the bottom of the second on a two-out, run-scoring double by Ryan Wiggins (Hayes, Va.).

The Spiders, though, plated a run in the fourth and two more in the top of the fifth for a 5-1 lead. Coogan and Mergenthaler had back-to-back doubles to account for one of the runs in the fifth.

But NSU exploded for five runs on six hits in the fifth inning to take a 6-5 lead. TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) led off with a single and scored on a long RBI double by Jerrod Farley (Chester, Va.). Farley then scored on an RBI single up the middle to cut Richmond's lead to 5-3.

After a strikeout and a single by John Boyd III (Hempstead, N.Y.), Bailey plated Lynch with a single to right. Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) tied the game at 5-all with a double to right-center. Anselmo Cantu (Virginia Beach, Va.) gave NSU the lead with a run-scoring groundout, which scored Bailey.

Richmond tied the game at 6-all on Mergenthaler's solo homer to right-center off NSU reliever Horace Smith III (Emporia, Va.) in the top of the seventh.

Boliek, Cuppia and Evan Stehle had three hits each for the Spiders (19-25-2). Seven different players had one hit each for NSU, which did not get a hit after the fifth-inning outburst. Bailey scored two runs for the Spartans.

NSU returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at Gardner-Webb.