By Will Kimmey
March 17, 2003

RICHMOND, Va.--Richmond coach Ron Atkins paid the Virginia Commonwealth pitching staff the biggest compliment he possibly could. Atkins instructed Vito Chiaravallotti, who led the Atlantic-10 with 23 homers and 86 RBIs last season, to lay down a bunt Saturday with the tying run on first in the sixth inning.

The ploy worked as Richmond eventually scored twice in the inning on a double by A.J. Board and held on for a 2-1 victory behind junior righthander Tim Stauffer. The preseason All-American allowed one run on four hits while striking out nine in a complete game victory, the second in Richmond's series win against its cross-town rival.

VCU's starter, sophomore righty Justin Orenduff was equally impressive Saturday, nearly matching Stauffer. He hurled unhittable sliders at the Spiders from a low three-quarters arm slot, piling up 13 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings, including four in the second.

"Stauffer's a great pitcher and I knew I'd have to come in here and pitch my (butt) off," Orenduff said. "I think I had my best stuff."

Pitchers for both teams have shown their best stuff most of the year. Richmond won two of three against VCU in the home-and-home series, improving to 13-2 with a 3.09 team ERA. The Rams, who finally reached the Spiders' staff for a 9-4 victory in Sunday's series finale, left the matchup 16-4 with a 2.62 team ERA after having its 13-game winning streak halted in a 4-1 loss Friday.

Atkins said he had Chiaravallotti bunt because his team is confident that once it gets the lead, its pitching staff won't give it back.

"That's how we've been playing this year and early on last year," Stauffer said. "All we have to do is put one, two or three runs up and we're in position to win."

Stauffer put his team in that position quite often last year as he went 15-3, 1.54, and he has continued his mastery this season. He's 3-0, 2.03 with 45 strikeouts in 31 innings, including two complete games. He's allowed 21 hits and six walks. Three of those walks came Saturday, when Stauffer didn't have his best stuff and labored in the eighth before Anthony Granato lined into a rally-killing double play.

"I felt good enough to keep going," he said. "I could have gone a couple more if I needed to. Getting those two runs put a little extra juice in my arm."

Stauffer's not carrying the pitching load on his own. Sophomore lefty Tim Rice allowed one run on four hits over five innings Friday to improve to 2-0, 2.20 on the year. Fellow sophomore Jason Bolinski struck out seven Rams over the final four frames to seal the win. Senior righty Mike McGirr has served as a strong third starter, going 3-0, 2.00.

"With that staff and the way the Atlantic-10 is, I don't see them getting 10 losses," VCU coach Paul Keyes said.

Richmond's offense has averaged just under six runs per game thus far after scoring 7.5 per game last year. The Spiders are playing in cold weather and without center fielder Ben Pritz (broken hand), leaving freshman third baseman Ben Zeskind to carry the offense for now. He leads the team in hitting and is off to a .426-3-9 start with three triples. Further, his emergence at third has allowed David Reaver to slide to shortstop to replace last year's starter Matt Craig.

Zeskind, a Miami native who originally signed with Florida under Andy Lopez, suffered an arm injury last year and redshirted. He transferred to Richmond after the season when he found he wasn't in the plans of new coach Pat McMahon. Atkins couldn't be happier to have him.

VCU's key transfer, Orenduff, has changed the complexion of the Rams pitching staff. "We had a pretty good staff coming in, but we got even better being able to add him as our Friday starter in league play," Keyes said.

Orenduff served as George Washington's relief ace last season, collecting the save as GW defeated Richmond two games to one in the A-10's conference tournament series. He teams with junior lefty Sean Marshall (1-1, 1.93 with 32 strikeouts in 28 innings) for a formidable one-two punch. Marshall fanned a career-high 11 Spiders in seven innings Friday but still got the loss. It was Orenduff's turn for a tough loss Saturday as he fell to 2-2, 1.80 with 40 strikeouts in 30 innings. He held a late lead at 1-0, and had two outs when a nubber off the bat of Michael Galligan hit him in the glove, then squibbed by. Board followed with the game-winning double.

When VCU's starters keep it close late into the game, Keyes gives the ball to closer Brian Marshall, Sean's twin brother. Brian strikes an imposing figure out of the bullpen at 6-foot-5, especially when he drops down and flings sidearm breaking balls at lefthanders. He collected seven K's in four innings of relief work in the series and has 25 in 16 innings overall.

"We've got a really good staff and good guys out of the pen," Orenduff said. "When I start, I have confidence turning the game over to them after six or seven innings."

With both squads playing so well--and less than eight miles apart--it would seem logical that they could co-host a regional at The Diamond, the home to the Rams and the Triple-A Richmond Braves. Unfortunately, the R-Braves are scheduled for a homestand from May 30-June 2, the same weekend regional play begins. And Richmond's Pitt Field lacks the lights necessary for a regional host field.

Around The Nation
By John Manuel

• North Carolina State is suddenly one of the nation's hottest teams, having won 13 straight games. Remember, it doesn't have a home field right now for practice or for games. Coach Elliott Avent was still working the schedule Monday morning, adding a game with Princeton for later in the day in Buies Creek, N.C., home of Campbell. That will be the fifth home field for the Wolfpack this year; Tuesday's game with Davidson and the weekend series with Florida State will be played at Kinston's Grainger Stadium, bringing the total to six. No matter--the Wolfpack keeps winning.

"It's starting to get comical," coach Elliott Avent said. "But it wouldn't be so funny if we were 4-18 instead of 18-4."

Since back-to-back drubbings in late February, NCSU hasn't lost. They got a big win Friday against Oklahoma State and ace Scott Baker, as right fielder Joe Gaetti ripped a three-run homer for a 4-3 win. Gaetti is hitting .286-8-29 and is 10-for-10 stolen bases.

And the Wolfpack continues to pitch well as well, getting complete games over the weekend from Phillip Davidson (against UNC Wilmington) and Vern Sterry. The latter moved to 5-0 with a career-high 14 Ks in a seven-hitter against Princeton.

• Watch out for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are in the midst of a 12-game swing against California teams and are 5-1 so far. The first three games were the series they won from Cal State Fullerton last weekend in the Metrodome. Out on the West Coast this weekend, the Gophers swept Pacific, which was 16-6 entering the series.

Minnesota improved to 9-5 with a 3-3 record against Top 25 teams and continues play in the Golden State this week against San Jose State, Sacramento State and Fresno State.

• Speaking of California, UC Riverside is making a bid for the Top 25 in just its second year as a full-fledged Division I school. The Highlanders are off to an 18-4 start with a team batting average of .340 (.419 on-base percentage).

UCR has been led by righthanders A.J. Shappi (5-0, 1.81) and Jaymie Torres (4-0, 2.49), who have half of the team's victories.

"They are playing with a lot of confidence and swinging the bats very well," said UC Santa Barbara coach Bob Brontsema, whose Gauchos split a pair of games with the Highlanders this weekend. "Their top two pitchers compete and know how to pitch. They are certainly on track to be a Top 25 team, in my opinion."