Baseball

Spiders Fall To UC Riverside, 10-8, In NCAA Regional Action

Box Score|Quotes|Notes|Photo Gallery

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) _ Brian Walbrink hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning as third-seeded UC Riverside overcame a four-run deficit to upset No.3 Richmond 10-8 in a first round game of the Stanford NCAA Regional on Friday.

Scott Powis drove in four runs and Chad Decker (4-0) threw a season-high 4 2-3 innings of relief to earn the victory as Riverside won in its first-ever appearance in a Division I regional.

Decker gave up two runs on three hits, walked two and struck out four. Brian Hoff got the final three outs.

Jason Collette also homered for the Highlanders (41-15), who won their fourth straight and nine of 12 overall.

All-American Tim Stauffer (9-5), who had allowed one earned run in his previous 21 innings, suffered the loss as Richmond (46-14) had a four-game winning streak stopped. Stauffer allowed five runs on a season-high 11 hits in eight innings. He struck out 11 and walked two.

Stauffer set a school record with 146 strikeouts. He struck out 140 last year.

Riverside starter Jaymie Torres allowed four runs on nine hits in 3 1-3 innings. He walked one with no strikeouts.

Riverside will meet the winner of a later game between Stanford and Illinois-Chicago on Saturday. Richmond plays the loser of the later game.

Adam Tidball drove in a run in the second, David Reaver singled home a run in the third, and Ben Zeskind and Jim Fasano each drove in a run in the fourth to give the Spiders their 4-0 lead.

Following Zeskind's RBI single, Decker retired the next nine hitters he faced to keep Riverside within reach.

Powis scored on a throwing error in the fifth, and hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Collette led off the eighth with fifth home run of the season. After Brian Emmons reached on a fielding error, Wahlbrink hit a towering drive over the left field fence for his team-leading 12th home run.

Riverside added five runs in the ninth, including Powis' bases-loaded triple.

Richmond scored four times in the ninth, including Fasano's two-run homer.

Riverside finished third in the Big West Conference while Richmond won the Atlantic-10 tournament.