A five-run sixth inning made all the difference Sunday afternoon between the Richmond Spiders and West Virginia Mountaineers at Pitt Field in Richmond, Virginia.

Despite three home runs on the day by West Virginia (6-4) batters, Richmond’s pitching staff never allowed the Mountaineer lineup to string together a big inning. WVU’s pitching staff was not as fortunate.

Aided by putting a crooked number on the scoreboard in the home half of the sixth, Richmond (4-6) defeated the Mountaineers by a final score of 7-3 on the last day of the Central Virginia Classic.

Veteran catcher Dayne Leonard got the Mountaineers on the board when he blasted an opposite-field home run to right with two outs in the top of the first inning. Leonard was one of three WVU hitters with multi-hit performances. Caleb McNeely led off the second inning with a homer to left, quickly putting the Mountaineers on top 2-0.

WVU starting pitcher Grant Siegel surrendered a long ball to lead off the bottom half of the frame. Richmond knotted the game up at two runs apiece in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single.

Richmond broke things open in the sixth. The Spiders sent nine hitters to the plate in the inning. They loaded the bases before reliever Robby Porco could record an out, and tallied the go-ahead run on a single to left. That base hit spurred a pitching change.

Carlson Reed struck out the first batter he faced in relief, but then gave up an RBI single to former teammate Mikey Kluska. Reed struck out a second hitter, and appeared to get out of the inning on a line drive to right field. However, the ball sailed over the head of Landon Wallace and rolled to the wall, and three runners scored to put Richmond ahead 7-2.

Porco was responsible for four runs and was handed the loss.

McNeely led off the top of the 7th with a home run, his second of the afternoon, but that was all the scoring the Mountaineers could muster after Richmond’s big inning. McNeely finished the day 3 for 4 with a pair of homers, two RBI, and two runs scored.

West Virginia loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but was unable to drive in any runs. WVU stranded six runners on base during the game, including three when the final out was recorded.

Randy Mazey’s crew returns home to face Canisius in the home opener on Wednesday, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.