Friday's action at the 2012 Atlantic Ten Baseball Championship Tournament saw Saint Joseph's beat Rhode Island, Dayton beat Richmond, Saint Louis beat Saint Josephs, and finally Richmond beat Saint Louis to earn a rematch with Dayton for the Championship. The games broke down as follows:
Saint Joseph's 3, Rhode Island 2
Sixth seeded Saint Joseph's scored a game winning run in the ninth inning, defeating No. 3 seed Rhode Island 3-2. Saint Joseph's got a single and two walks in the bottom of the ninth to load the bases, and after working a full count first baseman Kevin Taylor hit a grounder to first base. The throw to home was off target and Saint Joseph's took the win.
Daniel Thorpe threw a complete game for Saint Joseph's, giving up two runs on five hits and getting seven strikeouts.
Dayton 9, Richmond 5
No. 2 seed Dayton beat no. 5 seed Richmond 9-5 behind a ten hit offensive barrage, advancing to the Championship round for the first time in Flyers history. Dayton's Tim Bury gave up four runs on nine hits through 7.2 innings, but with the Flyers' hitters behind him that was no trouble. Shortstop Brian Blasik lead things, getting two hits and two RBI.
Saint Louis 6, Saint Joseph's 0
No. 1 seed Saint Louis beat Saint Joseph's 6-0 in Friday's third game of the day, eliminating Saint Joseph's from the tournament. Clay Smith pitched a complete game shutout for Saint Louis, giving up only three hits while striking out four and walking two through nine innings. Saint Louis' offense got to Saint Josepha's starter Jordan Carter early, scoring four runs on eight hits through just 4.1 innings. They added two more in the ninth, but with Smith's performance it was academic.
Richmond 3, Saint Louis 2
Richmond trailed 2-1 for most of the game, finally tying the score in the bottom of the eighth. They held St. Louis off in the top of the ninth and then managed to pull out a victory in the bottom of the inning. The leadoff man struck out, and the following batter lined out to left. But the next man walked, and advanced on an infield single. He was replaced by a pinch runner, who then scored on a fielding error by the second baseman, giving Richmond the game.
That leaves Dayton vs. Richmond as the Championship game, and those two teams will face off on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 12:0pm EDT.
Stay tuned to this storystream and SB Nation New York for more from the 2012 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship.