RICHMOND, Va. - The Niagara baseball team (0-3) dropped a pair in non-conference action on Sunday at Richmond. The Purple Eagles fell 16-9 in game two and 9-2 in game three of the weekend.

Niagara got on the board first in both contests, but the Spider offense porved to be too much. Richmond combined for 24 hits and 25 runs on the afternoon.

Senior catcher Matt Luccesi (San Fransisco, Calif.) started game two off with a first-inning grand slam to give NU a 4-0 lead. Niagara scored three more runs in the top of the fourth to take a 7-4 lead, but the Spiders scored 10 runs in the bottom of the inning to pull away.

Tim Cozier (Ajax, Ont.) continued his hot start to the year with a 2-for-4 performance including a double. Luccesi added a single to record his first multiple hit game of the season.

In the final game of the weekend, Trevor Rutkowski (Crystal Lake, Ill.) gave the Purple Eagles a 1-0 lead with his first career home run. Matt Wietlispach (Chicago, Ill.), who homered in yesterday's loss, doubled and scored in the third to give the squad a 2-0 lead.

The Purple Eagles were a perfect 6-for-6 on the base paths on Sunday, including two steals apiece for Wietlispach, Steve Smith (West Islip, N.Y.) and Wynton Bernard (Poway, Calif.).

Niagara returns to action on Saturday and Sunday for a three-game series at UMES.