Richmond, VA (cvillerightnow.com): After taking two of three on the west coast against the California Golden Bears, the 12-6 Virginia Cavaliers are looking to find their rhythm in the 2025 season after a season that has not begun the way many fans hoped it would.  Today they will be facing the 18-2 Richmond Spiders back home at Disharoon Park this afternoon beginning at 4:00 PM.   

The Spiders, for their part, have been quite sharp in the A-10, and have had a season that has brought great respect upon their name.  It might be tempting to write a midweek battle like this off during most seasons, after all, it could be argued there is a league disparity between the ACC and the A-10.  However, Richmond and Virginia may have lot more in common than you might think.  The Spiders, like the Hoos, like to win with long innings in which their offense puts big spots up on the scoreboard, skilled practitioners of the blitzkrieg offense, as it were.   Of Richmond’s 18 wins this year, eight have been by double digits, and they have put up more than ten runs in eleven of those games.  And those wins have come against opponents the Hoos know too well, knocking that Boston College team that took two of three from Virginia to the ground with an 11-4 defeat back in the beginning of March, and smashing NC State back in late February 5-1 in Raleigh (the Hoos face them in two weeks’ time).  Under no circumstances is this a team to be trifled with. 

Richmond is led offensively by its sophomore catcher Jack Arcamone, who is batting .446 with a 1.388 OPS, and junior infield Jordan Jaffe, who is sitting at a 1.284 OPS, leads the team in hits, and is joint top on the team in homeruns alongside Arcamone.  Both men have started all 20 games for the Spiders. On the pitching side, relief ace Ryan Bilka has been lights out in seven appearances, pitching to a 0.36 ERA in a team-leading 24.2 innings pitched.  In that time, he has struck out 21 and opponents are hitting just .114 against him.  Chase Topolski and Esteban Rodriguez are both solid starting options, striking out 31 batters and surrendering 16 earned runs between them in ten games between them.  Gerry Peacock gets the ball against Virginia today, the Jersey grad student is 4-0 as the Spiders’ midweek opener, and he’s coming off 3.1 innings of one hit, one run ball against the Longwood Lancers last week.  Lefty Bradley Hodges toes the rubber to begin the game for the second mid-week in a row, and dazzled in his return to action against Maryland last week, striking out three in two innings of no-hit ball.    

Duke awaits the Hoos this weekend, and Virginia has begun a palpable upward trend at the right time for their 2025 prospects.  They can enter the Duke series playing a wickedly excellent tune should the game go well today.  Much will be determined by their mentality against this Richmond team that is devastatingly easy to underestimate.  Quite the narrative, pregame coverage for the game starts at 3:45 today, on Newsradio WINA, and Cvillerightnow.com.