Rams win series, 3-1, Tigers go down with a roar

Dan Elson, Contributing writer

The Rams, who are now 14-6 on the season, took three out of four games against the Princeton Tigers this weekend and have won 10 out of their last 12 as of Tuesday, March 19.

Shortstop William Bean said he is happy the Rams won the series but they should have beat the Tigers.

Friday, March 15 

The Rams took advantage of 11 walks, four hit-by-pitches and three errors to beat the Princeton Tigers 11-7. 

Bean said the Tigers’ mistakes on defense and pitching reflected the score.

“Coach LeCroy always preaches on us, take the freebies he calls it,” Bean said. “So we knew on Friday that’s not their brand of baseball, all the free passes. So, we knew for the rest of the game we had to come in and attack on offense.”

Catcher Nic Ericsson got the Rams started with an RBI single in the bottom of the first to give VCU a 1-0 lead. Right fielder Aden Hill drove in two more with a single to left field to extend the lead to 3-0. 

In the top of the second inning, the Tigers cut the lead to 3-2 on a two-RBI single from designated hitter Jay Mentink. 

Later in the inning, left fielder Caden Shapiro tied the game up at three on a sacrifice fly that scored third baseman Jake Kernodle. The Tigers knocked Rams pitcher Zachary Peters out of the game after giving up four hits in the inning — five together in his outing.

Rams pitcher Brian Curley, who improved to 3-0 on the season, pitched four scoreless innings, struck out four and gave up just one hit in relief. 

“Brian’s unbelievable,” Hill said. “He’s one of the hardest-working guys I know.”

In the bottom of the second inning, the Rams scored four runs on just one hit to take a 7-3 lead. The Tigers hit three Rams batters in just two innings. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Ericsson recorded his second hit on a double down the left field line that scored designated hitter Eli Weisner to make it an 8-3 lead. Left fielder Anderson Fulk walked with the bases loaded and scored Ericsson to increase the lead to 9-3.

Tigers pitcher Will Sword, who got the loss, left the game after giving up nine runs — five of them earned. He walked five batters in three and one-third innings pitched.

In the top of the seventh inning, the Tigers scored three runs on a wild pitch, an RBI single from Kernodle and a first baseman Kyle Vinci sacrifice fly that scored Shapiro to cut the lead to 11-6 to get back in the game.  

Fulk reached base all five times in his Rams debut. Ericsson went 2-for-3 at the plate, and Hill finished the day with three RBIs. 

Tigers center fielder Matt Scannell and Kernodle both had multi-hit games. Vinci went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. 

Saturday, March 16

The Rams struck out the Tigers 16 times — a season-high and beat Princeton 7-1 in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader.

Rams pitcher Christian Gordon struck out nine batters in five innings pitched, allowed three walks and five hits to earn his third win of the season. Pitcher Cade Dressler pitched four scoreless innings and struck out seven batters out of the bullpen.

LeCroy said more strikeouts give the pitchers extra confidence.

“It gives them confidence when they execute a two-strike pitch, they’re going to get a punch out,” LeCroy noted. 

Right fielder Aden Hill got things started for VCU as he recorded his fourth RBI in the series on a line drive single into right-center field to give the Rams a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. 

Later in the inning, second baseman Casey Kleinman extended the VCU lead to 3-0 on an opposite-field single that scored designated hitter Anderson Fulk, who reached base six straight times. 

After getting shut out for four and two-thirds innings, Tigers designated hitter Jake Bold made it a 3-1 ball game on an RBI single up the middle to get Princeton on the board. 

Shortstop William Bean reached base with a single in the bottom of the sixth inning. He scored on an RBI from center fielder Cooper Benzin that extended the lead to 4-1. 

The Rams were able to take advantage of the Tigers’ two errors in the bottom of the seventh. Hill hit a bases-clearing double down the left field line to make it a 7-1 ball game. 

“I just put a good swing on a good pitch and just did what we’ve been working on for this past week,” Hill said. 

Hill finished the first game of the double-header 2-for-4 with four RBIs at the plate and left fielder Ethan Iannuzzi finished 2-for-5. 

Bold went 3-for-4 for the Tigers. Third baseman Jake Kernodle and shortstop Tommy Googins both went 2-for-4. 

Saturday, March 16

The Rams scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and won 6-3 to take the second game of the doubleheader and their third win of the series.  

In the top of the first inning, the Tigers took a 1-0 and secured their first lead of the series on an RBI double from second baseman Jake Koonin that scored center fielder Matt Scannell.

The Rams made a pitching change after just one inning. Pitcher Everett Vaughan gave up one run and two hits. VCU turned to Pitcher Nick Cosentino.

In the top of the third inning, designated hitter Dylan Zdunek recorded his second RBI of the season which gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Princeton added another run on a bases-loaded walk.

Third baseman Brandon Eike hit his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the third inning to dead center field to cut the Princeton lead to 3-2. 

Three innings later, shortstop William Bean tied the game up at three with an RBI single.

In a 3-3 game going into the bottom of the eighth inning, right fielder Aden Hill singled to right field and stole second base. Bean knocked in Hill to put VCU on top 4-3. 

“He’s as fast as anyone,” Bean said. “I just wanted to put the ball in play and I knew if I get it past the infielders, it’s an RBI there.”

Catcher Nic Ericsson, who didn’t start the game, singled to drive in two more runs to extend the lead to 6-3.

Sunday, March 17

Second baseman Jake Koonin got the Tigers on the board early in the top of the first inning on a two-RBI double to deep left-center field. 

The Tigers added to their lead when outfielder Caden Shapiro singled to right center to extend the lead to 4-0. The Rams made a quick pitching change. VCU turned to pitcher Maison Martinez. 

In the bottom of the second inning, center fielder Cooper Benzin knocked in the first Rams run of the game to cut the lead to 4-1 on an RBI double that scored Hill. After two innings, the Rams trailed 4-3. 

Princeton responded back in the top of the third on a Koonin solo home run to left field to make it a 5-3 ball game. 

The Rams scored three runs on two hits in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-5 lead. This was the first lead of the game for VCU. 

Princeton tied the game up at six on a two-out RBI single from right fielder Jay Mentink in the top of the fifth inning. 

VCU took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single from shortstop Willian Bean. Later in the inning second baseman Casey Kleinman hit a grand slam that gave the Rams a 11-6 lead. 

“He had a ton of emotion,” Bean said. “He’s not known as a power guy. He’s our leadoff guy that gets on base a lot. So for him to do that, gets everyone fired up in the dugout and everyone loves to see that.”

The Tigers scored five runs on three hits from Koonin, Mentink and center fielder Matt Scannell in the top of the sixth inning which tied the game up at 11. 

In the top of the eighth inning, the Tigers took a 12-11 lead on a go-ahead home run from Koonin. 

“Give Princeton credit, they swung the bats pretty well,” head coach Bradley LeCroy said. “We didn’t execute pitches, didn’t play good defense and they shut us down for the last four innings.” 

Designated hitter Shapiro singled to right field and the ball got past right fielder Aden Hill which gave the Tigers two more runs.

For the Tigers, Koonin went 4-for-6 with six RBIs, and Mentink finished the day 2-for-4 and had three RBIs. Pitcher Jacob Faulkner earned his first win of the season and gave up only one hit in four innings. 

Kleinman and Bean both went 2-for-4 at the plate and combined for seven RBIs. Hill went 2-for-4 and finished 7-for-14 in the series. 

“I felt like everything I was hitting was on the ground and coming off the end of the bat,” Hill said. “And so for me, I really just moved up in the box and took my focus from right center and I just tried to try to hit everything left center and up the middle.”

The Tigers scored four runs in the final two innings to beat the Rams 15-11 to end their four-game losing streak. 

LeCroy said he was disappointed that the Rams couldn’t sweep the Tigers.

“We got a five-run lead in the fifth into the top of the sixth and we couldn’t hold on,” LeCroy said.