Richmond, Va.— UMBC baseball picked up a big win over Richmond, 10-5 on Wednesday. Freshman A.J. Wright (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) hit his first collegiate home run, just one of his five RBI on the day as UMBC improves to 5-9 on the year. 

"It was a great day for our team. The hitters really showed up and swung the bats all through the lineup," head coach Bob Mumma said about the teams win. "We put a lot of pressure on them and scored a ton of runs, including A.J. (Wright) getting his first collegiate home run."

Kevin Lachance (Clifton, Va./Centreville) would once again get the Retrievers on the board early, as he took the second pitch of the game and put it over the left field wall to give the Retrievers an early 1-0 lead. The Spiders would score in their half of the inning, as we would be all square after one.

UMBC broke the game open with a four run second inning, with all the runs coming with two outs. Hunter Dolshun (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) got the scoring started with a single, followed by an Andrew Casali (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) single that moved him to third. Jamie Switalski (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) knocked home Dolshun to push the Retrievers ahead 2-1, a lead that they would not relinquish.

The inning continued with A.J. Wright blasting his first collegiate home run over the left field wall to increase the Retriever advantage to 5-1. Richmond would have an answer scoring two in the bottom of the inning, making it 5-3 UMBC after three.

UMBC would continue to put runs on the board, as Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) singled home Lachance, who started the fourth with a double. Wright would once again cross the plate, as he scored from third on an errant pick off attempt to make it 7-3 after five complete.

The Retrievers would get three more in the sixth, starting with a Switalski RBI double that plated Nick Naumann (Essex, Md./John Carroll/Chestnut Hill) to make it 8-3. Gatto and Switalski would later score on a Wright single to make it 10-3 after six.

Richmond gets a two-run home run in the eighth, but the Retrievers would shut the door in the ninth to win 10-5 on Wednesday.

Eight of the nine Retriever starters recorded a hit on Wednesday, led by Wright who was 2-4 with five RBI and two runs scored. Switalski, Dolshun, and Lachance all recorded multiple hits. Freshman Jacob Christian (Nokesville, Va./Patriot) pitched 2.2 innings of relief, giving up just one hit with one strikeout for his second win of the year.

UMBC will return to the diamond against Stony Brook this weekend at Alumni Field. The Seawolves and Retrievers will play a double-header starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, before the two close the series with a single game on Sunday, March 20 at 1 p.m.