Baseball sweeps Albany after 16 day bad weather break

After a 16 day vacation thanks to inclement weather VCU Baseball returned to their schedule with a doubleheader against Albany.

In game one, the Rams had 15 hits, which propelled them to a 16-1 victory. In the second game, sophomore Justin Orenduff worked with two relievers on the mound to deliver a three-hit shutout. VCU took the second game with a score of 5-0. VCU improved to 4-3 with the first action they’ve seen since February 14. Albany is now 0-2.

In the first game VCU had three different players with three runs apiece. In addition to his three runs, junior third baseman Anthony Granato had three hits and two RBIs. Junior center fielder Eric Latura also had two hits and one RBI in addition to his three runs. Junior short stop Paul Swack also had three runs. Senior right fielder Justin Mattison had two runs, two hits and two RBIs.

Teammates Danny Lopaze, Gabe Riley, Jeff Parish, Joe Meador and Jose Pabon, also all had one run for the Rams.

Albany right fielder Craig Farley was the only player to score for his team.

VCU opened the game with an unearned run in the first inning. In the second inning, VCU broke the lead open by scoring six times. Parrish finished up the bottom of the second with a double that drove in a run to put the Rams up 7-0. In the third inning the Rams tallied five more runs, including a two-run double from junior second baseman Nick Jones, which gave them a 12-0 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Albany’s Farley had a leadoff double and was then driven home by a base hit from junior left fielder Brendan Chiavaro to earn the team’s only run. In the bottom of the inning Granato earned his first home run with VCU off a pitch from Albany reliever Nick Murphy. At the end of the inning the score was 13-1.

Senior Michael Leishman had an outstanding performance on the mound for VCU. Leishman allowed only three hits and had six strikeouts to earn the win for VCU.

Great Dane’s freshman pitcher Giorgio Fuda was charge with five runs and gave up five walks in just over one inning to receive credit for the Albany loss.

In game two of the doubleheader Orenduff gave up only three hits in five innings. For the effort, Orenduff was credited with his first win of the season. Orenduff finished the game with seven strikeouts.

The game was scoreless until VCU broke free in the third inning. Latura started with a double off of Albany’s Steve Emmerthal. Latura was then sent home by a base hit from Mattison. Lopaze then loaded the bases after a base hit by Granato. Albany’s Emmerthal balked home Mattison to give VCU the two run advantage. Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to send VCU ahead one more. VCU had their last run in the sixth inning when Jones was driven in by Parrish.

The Rams look to continue their winning trend against Albany when they face them again, Friday, Mar 7 at 4 p.m. at The Diamond.