VCU was led offensively by senior John Leonard (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam), who batted 1-2 and hit the game winning RBI, and sophomore Jared Bolden (Lynchburg, Va./E.C. Glass), who went 3-4 from the plate. Eight different Rams collected hits in Sunday’s win over the Tribe of William & Mary.
In the first inning, junior Kwan Evans (Hampton, Va./Bethel) had a two-run double to tie the score at one apiece. Freshman Howard Deemer pitched a solid game in four and a third innings only allowing two runs off of five hits. The Rams exploded for four runs in the third inning.
The Tribe scored five runs in the sixth, which tied the game. This is when Luke Pisker (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) came in after relieving Bill Wieland and Mick Mattaliano. He only allowed one run, and had two strikeouts in the four innings he pitched. He was able to get them out of a jam in the sixth inning when it could have been potentially worse for the Rams. His clutch pitching provided a spark for the team.
Leonard came in as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. He came up clutch with an RBI double, which ended up being the game-winning run for the Rams, taking the lead 8-7.
The Tribe put a scare to the Rams in the ninth inning when the Tribe had two men on base because of a throwing error. After the error, the next batter hit a game-ending double play.
The Rams have won five of their last six games and are now 24-15 overall and have a 10-7 record in CAA play. The Tribe falls to 23-19 overall on the season and 10-10 in conference action. The Rams return to action on Tuesday to host VMI at The Diamond.