VCU Rams baseball preps for this season
VCU second-year pitcher Evan Bert looked to strike out his opponent in a game against Longwood University last season. CT file photo by Alessandro Latour.
Dan Elson, Contributing Writer
The Rams, who finished 25-30 in 2023, posted a 7.57 team earned run average — ninth in the Atlantic-10.
The team has 20 returners, 15 transfers and nine freshmen this season.
VCU baseball head coach Bradley LeCroy said the key for the Rams to bounce back this season is to have better pitching and that the bullpen this season “has got some really good options.”
“For us to win ball games, our pitching has to carry us,” LeCroy said. “We feel like the talent and the competition that we have on our pitching staff, that number will drop significantly. They’re going to be a huge part to our success,”
Last year pitcher Zachary Peters finished 3-5 with a 6.53 ERA in 11 starts, according to VCU Athletics. In 11 relief appearances in 2023, Brian Curley, a pitcher, posted a 5.52 ERA in 29 innings pitched, according to VCU Athletics.
VCU brought back former Ram Sean Thompson this past offseason to be the pitching coach this year.
When Thompson played for the Rams, he went 27-10, recorded 3.30 ERA and he totaled 249 strikeouts over 300 innings, according to VCU Athletics.
“Sean Thompson has done a great job coming in this year and implementing what he does,” center fielder Cooper Benzin said. “He’s been successful at the collegiate level.”
The Rams hit .275 as a team last year — fifth in the league, according to the Atlantic 10.
“I like our offense,” LeCroy said. “We’ve got some guys that were big pieces of that lineup last year. We feel like we’re improved offensively because of the pieces we added.”
In 2023, third baseman Brandon Eike hit .346 at the plate, belted 11 home runs and had 71 RBIs. He was named to the First Team All-Atlantic 10 in 2023, and this year is ranked the No. 10 third baseman in all of D1 college baseball, according to VCU Athletics.
Eike, a fourth-year student, said his success at the plate last year was due to “having the same routine every day, doing the same thing every day, being disciplined in my approach, getting pitches I can hit and try to do damage.”
Benzin said he expects Eike to have a breakout season.
“He swings the bat as well as anyone I’ve ever played with,” Benzin, a sixth-year student, said. “He’s really aggressive and that helps him out.”
In the offseason, the Rams lost center fielder AJ Mathis, who hit .353 at the plate last year, which was 10th in the league, according to the Atlantic-10.
“He was a key for us last year, an on-base guy and a good clubhouse guy,” Eike said.
Coach LeCroy said he feels “super excited” about what the team can accomplish.
“We feel great about where our culture is,” LeCroy said. “The standard of VCU baseball is to win championships and play in the postseason. That’s our goal.”
The Rams will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina to play the No. 13 ranked NC State Wolfpack on Feb. 16 to start their season, according to VCU Athletics.
