Twinbill is a tale of two teams

In his past two starts, VCU right-hander John Leonard has been enjoying that season of light Dickens talked about.

The Rams traveled to Chapel Hill more than a week ago, and, although they fell 3-2 to North Carolina, for Leonard, the six-inning, two-run performance was the best of his outings this season.

Leonard took the mound in the second game of the Rams’ doubleheader against Longwood on Tuesday at the Petersburg Sports Complex and didn’t come off until he had seven shutout innings of one-hit ball to earn his third win of the season.

Leonard (3-1) mastered the Lancers as the Rams won 5-0 in the nightcap. The redshirt sophomore retired the first 15 batters he faced and stuck out a season high 12 of the 26 Lancer hitters he faced on the night.

By the start of the second inning, second baseman Sergio Miranda had given him all the run support he needed with an single that scored center fielder Joe Meador.

After Leonard fanned two of the the three batters he faced in the top of the second the Rams put together a four-run inning marked by a Trai Harris steal, a RBI double from Kwan Evans and wild pitch by Longwood’s John Farrell (3-5), which allowed VCU (23-12) third baseman Bobby Holmes to come home.

Holmes went 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI, and Evans went 3 for 3 with a run and a RBI as Leonard carved through the Lancers’ lineup.

Leonard’s masterpiece contradicted the Rams’ pitching performance earlier in the day.

In the 10-5 loss to start the twin bill, VCU had to deal with the English author’s season of darkness that has kind of come and gone in the past months. The Rams’ young pitching staff has gone from allowing 23 runs over a five-game stretch from April 8 to April 20 to giving up 37 in the next three.

VCU used four pitchers against the Lancers (15-25) in the first game. They combined to allow 10 runs on 12 hits.

The Lancers tagged Danny Walker for six runs and a pair of homers before the junior right-hander left in the fourth inning.

Longwood scored two runs (one earned) off Cody Eppley, who threw three innings in relief. Tim St. Clair, typically a DH, allowed just one hit in the ninth inning for the Rams, but it was a two run bomb to Longwood Corey Huemmer.

Taking the mound just two days after earning his first win of the season on Sunday, Mick Mattaliano managed to put together three solid innings struck out four batters in three scoreless innings between the two.

The Rams squandered eight hits, leaving seven runners stranded. Trailing 8-2 in the eighth inning, singles by second baseman Sergio Miranda and second baseman Scott Sizemore and a walk by outfielder Kwan Evans gave the had a chance to close the gap, but junior pinch hitter Chase Farmer struck out on four pitches to leave the bases loaded.

Sizemore went 3 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. He was the only Ram with multiple hits.

Chris Balus, Tyler Ames and Louis Ullrich and Nick von Gersdorff all went 2 for 4 for Longwood.

After splitting the nonconference set with the Lancers, the Rams took Wednesday off before hopping on the bus and heading to Hempstead, N.Y. for a three-game weekend series with Hofstra (6-9 CAA, 18-23).