RICHMOND, Va. (Interstat) — Luke Parise delivered a dominant start with six no-hit innings, and Alex Venezia launched two solo home runs as the Saint Joseph’s Hawks completed a three-game road sweep of the Richmond Spiders with a 5-1 victory in Atlantic 10 Conference baseball Sunday at Malcolm U. Pitt Field.

The Hawks, who won the series opener 11-9 on Friday and a 4-3 decision on Saturday, improved to .500 overall at 8-8 and 3-0 in conference play. The Spiders fell to 10-10, 0-3.

The most critical sequence of the game occurred in the top of the third inning, breaking open a pitchers’ duel. Saint Joseph’s capitalized on a Richmond error to extend the inning against starter Angel SantiagoCruz. After a fielding miscue by shortstop Noah Haught put two runners on, Blake Primrose greeted reliever Chayse Gruber with a two-run double to left-center field, scoring both Ben Peterson and Alex Kelsey. Those runs, both unearned, gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead and provided all the support Parise would ultimately need.

Parise, the top star for Saint Joseph’s, was in complete command. The right-hander allowed only one earned run, which scored on a sacrifice fly in the third inning, and issued two walks while striking out two. He faced the minimum through two innings and worked out of his only significant jam in the third after Richmond scored its lone run. Parise retired the final 10 batters he faced before handing the game to the bullpen. His performance followed a strong seven-inning outing in a win over Bucknell on March 8.

Richmond’s best chance to rally came in the eighth inning against reliever Matt Fitzgibbon. Michael Elko, who finished 2-for-2 with a double and a walk, led off with a single and advanced to third base on two wild pitches with one out. Fitzgibbon, however, struck out Sean Scanlon and, after walking Grant Kennedy, induced a fielder’s choice groundout from Chris Schaller to end the threat.

Venezia provided crucial insurance for the Hawks, homering to left field in the seventh inning off Gruber and again in the ninth off Dominic Ruggiero. Primrose added three hits, including two doubles, and drove in two runs.

The Saint Joseph’s bullpen preserved Parise’s gem with three perfect innings of relief. Fitzgibbon struck out three over two hitless frames, and Christian Coppola struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth.

Richmond used five pitchers, with Gruber taking the loss after allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits over four innings of work. The Spiders managed just six hits total and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The victory gave Saint Joseph’s a sweep to open A-10 play, defying pregame projections from Interstat, whose game simulator had forecast a 6-5 Richmond win and gave the Spiders a 56.4% probability of victory.

Saint Joseph’s travels to face Delaware on Tuesday. Richmond will host Maryland on Tuesday.