Baseball takes series from George Mason in Fairfax

Staff reports

Saturday, April 9
Game 1 of double-header:
The VCU baseball team began a double header on a positive note at CAA rival George Mason on Saturday.
The Rams got the win in the 11th inning on a sacrifice fly by junior Paul Nice to send sophomore Nick Kime
home for the 3-2 win.
Junior Seth Cutler-Voltz allowed one run in 7.1 innings while striking out three but ended the day with a no decision because of a tying home run by George Mason in the bottom of the ninth. Senior Michael Caddell set a career high going 3-for-5. Nick Kime finished the front end of the double header going 2-for-5.
Joey Cujas added a RBI while going 2-for-4 on the day while Nice also had a nice day going 1-for-3 with 2 RBI’s. Senior Jonathan Watson was called on in the seventh inning with the game tied at two and delivered on his way to picking up his third win of the season.

Game 2 of double-header:
After VCU hit for the cycle in a four-run first inning, fatigue from Saturday’s double-header began to set in.
Followig the eventful initial inning, George Mason starter Ryan Pfaeffle held the Rams hitless for seven straight innings and allowed just two base runners on two walks as the Patriots retaliated with five unanswered runs to win the night game 5-4.
VCU produced just one hit over the course of the final eight innings which came as a single off the bat of freshman Landon Prentiss in the ninth.
Junior Taylor Perkins led VCU, going 1-for-2 with two RBIs on the day.
The Rams’ sophomore starter Kyle Haynes allowed just two runs in 6.1 innings of work but got a no-decision after the VCU bullpen surrendered three runs in the final 1.1 innings.
GMU’s Brig Tison led off with a hit and a one-out walk by Davis put the winning run at second for the Patriots in the bottom of the ninth.
Blaise Fernandez then drilled a walkoff single over the head of Cullen in center to even the series at one game apiece.

Sunday, April 10
After dropping the second game of Saturday’s double-header, VCU put an exclamation point on the weekend in Sunday’s series-deciding match.
The Rams scored nine unanswered runs in the final three innings to erase a pair of four-run deficits en route to a 15-10 victory against George Mason.
Having trailed 10-6 after six innings, VCU scored one run in the seventh inning, two in the eighth and six in the ninth to pick up its second series win of the season in the CAA.
Eight separate players recorded a hit for VCU.
Chris Ayers went 3-for-6 with two RBIs, Kyle Sutherland finished with a team-best four RBIs while John Lenherr, Michael Cheatham and Perkins each drove in two runs apiece.
Freshman Ryan Morrison threw the final two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first win in his collegiate career.
VCU held off the Patriots who have still not won a conference series all season, falling to 14-19-1 overall and 3-12 in the CAA.
The Rams now improve to 13-17 overall and 6-6 in conference play before traveling to cross-town rival University of Richmond on Tuesday at 3 p.m.