Baseball takes road series against Dayton

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

It was a make-or-break road series for VCU baseball if they still believed they could break into the top seven and secure a spot in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Sitting a couple spots outside of the coveted seventh place, the Rams needed at least a pair of wins against Dayton to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Friday

VCU started the series exactly how it had hoped with a big 10-2 victory.

Dayton struck first scoring a run in the second inning after a Kyle Robinett RBI single drove in Aaron Huesman. Another run was added in the second off a Robby Sounderman single, giving the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

From here on out, it was a dominating performance from VCU. Joey Cujas’ RBI double in the fifth brought in James Bunn to start the scoring.

The seventh inning was where the scoring explosion happened. With the bases loaded, Chris Ayers was walked, tying the game at 2-2 with no outs and loading the bases again. Next up was Vimael Machin who jacked a grand slam to right field, putting the Rams up four. Another run from Taylor Buran capped off the six-run inning.

VCU would add three more in the eighth. After three consecutive walks loaded the bases, Cujas sent a single into center field bringing in Nick Octavi and Bill Cullen. Bunn was driven in on the next at-bat sealing the victory for the Rams.

Winning pitcher Heath Dwyer struck out a career-high 11 batters and recorded his second complete game of the season.

“It was a great effort from Heath Dwyer,” head coach Shawn Stiffler said. “He was everything you want your Friday night guy to be.”

The win gave VCU a two-game win streak and was the first time they recorded consecutive wins since the first week of March.

Saturday

Another big scoring day for VCU sealed the series win with an 8-1 victory.

Three runs in the first inning gave the Rams a lead they would not squander. A Cujas single and Ayers double started off the day. Machin then doubled off the center field wall to bring in the two base runners before Buran’s RBI single brought home Machin.

An extra run was added in the third after a Buran single scored Machin giving the Rams a 4-0 lead. Two more came in the seventh with an Ayers single allowing Cujas to reach home. Jordan Weymouth was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in an unearned run.

Dayton’s lone run came in the eighth after Robinett hit a home run to left field.

In the ninth, VCU would add its final two runs. With two outs, Weymouth was brought in from second base after Trevor Marino doubled. He was followed by Octavi’s single, advancing him to third before Cullen sent a single to right field bringing Marino home.

“It was good to come out and play well and win a series on the road,” Stiffler said. “Good job today by our offense and especially with two outs.”

Sunday

Unable to complete its first sweep since St. Joseph’s in February, VCU fell 4-1 to Dayton.

VCU started the scoring in the second after a Marino single scored Machin, but it was quickly erased with a three-run home run in the bottom of the second from Dayton.

Five scoreless innings passed with the Rams still trailing by two. The Flyers added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single from Ryan Berry.

Into the ninth, VCU needed three runs to force extra innings. Ayers singled to right field and was followed by a Machin walk giving the Rams two base runners with no outs. Buran reached first base off a fielder’s choice to shortstop Luke Wolford who caught Machin heading to second.

Weymouth then grounded out to Wolford who completed a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

VCU as a team hit just .107 on a season-low 3-for-28 batting.

“It’s disappointing to end a pretty good week on a game like this,” Stiffler said. “We came up to a tough place to play and a place we didn’t know much about and took two of three games, but were not able to pick up the win today.”

The series win keeps VCU in ninth place in the A-10, but keeps them within two games of seventh.

Next up is Old Dominion University in Hampton, Va. on Tuesday as part of the Paul Keyes Strikeout Cancer Classic.