Baseball continues rough start to season, losing series to Monmouth
Staff Reports
Two weeks into last season, VCU’s baseball team had compiled a solid starting record of 4-3 and were easing into their roles as the unheralded underdogs that would eventually win the CAA Championship after being picked to finish seventh in an 11-team conference.
This year, they’ve earned a good deal more admiration and were picked to finish third. But with the significantly larger target on their back this season, the Rams are finding out early on that with the added respect comes added responsibility. The team dropped two in a three-game set to Monmouth this weekend to drop them to 2-4 on the season. The result means the Rams still haven’t won a series after winning their first three in a row last season.
In the first game of the series, junior pitcher Seth Cutler-Voltz – who broke out of his shell and did well enough last season to earn the nod as first in this year’s rotation – started off the season with a loss after giving up five runs (four earned) in six innings pitched. In the second game, junior first-baseman Brent Mikionis went 3-4 to help lead the Rams to a 6-5 victory that evened the series. In the rubber match on Sunday, VCU utilized a four-run sixth inning to tie the game at five a piece. But Monmouth would score the winning run in extra-innings off senior reliever Jonathan Watson.
VCU will be back in action when they play a one-off versus Norfolk State Tuesday before starting a three-game series against Presbyterian Friday. The Rams will begin conference action against James Madison in a three-game set that starts on March 18.
