Mother Nature and VCU Baseball played nicely in Farmville at Longwood University on Wednesday night. The rescheduled game in the ballpark showcased a third inning full of runs that fueled the Rams towards another victory to their streak against the Lancers.

Starting The Game Swinging

Longwood started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI double. Carlos Garrido batted Cullan Wadsworth home from second giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead.

Logan Amiss responded on VCU’s behalf with his first home run of the season. Brandon Henson got on base with a single before Amiss stepped up to the plate. Amiss hammered the ball out to right field and out the park putting VCU ahead 2-1 in the top the second inning.

Fireworks in the 3rd

11 runs were scored between VCU and Longwood in the third inning. The Rams scored 6 runs at the top of the inning to increase their lead 8-1. Hits from Zac Ching, Liam Hibbits, and Hunter Vay fueled the visitors with RBIs aplenty. Longwood had a rough shift at the mound with 3 walks and 2 errors.

The Lancers managed a response that filled all the bases as Hunter Gilliam made way to the batter’s box. Gilliam nailed a double pass VCU’s infield that brought all 3 Lancers home. Nate Blakeney kept Longwood on the comeback trail next at-bat with a home run down the left field line cutting VCU’s lead to 8-6.

Keep On, Keeping On

Runs still made the rounds around the bases for VCU going into the 4th. Ching was walked by Longwood to start followed by a double by Brett Norwood. Paul Witt stuck out swinging for VCU’s first out however the ball was a wild pitch that resulted in Ching scoring and Norwood advancing to third base.

Norwood was brought home by Hibbits on his second hit of the game. The Lancers could not get on base in the bottom half going three and out while trailing 10-6.

In the 5th inning, VCU added another run to their collection. After Taylor was walked, Hogan Brown connected on a single advancing Taylor to third base. Ching followed that up with a walk that sent Brown to second to load the bases for VCU. Norwood was up to bat and was walked by Longwood that brought Taylor home. Witt ended the inning with a line drive into the dirt leading to double play by the Lancers to escape.

Cruising To Victory

Pitching kept VCU ahead as the game continued. Starting pitcher Danny Watson threw 39 strikes out of 66 total pitches on the day with only 2 hits by Longwood. Justin Sorokowski struggled during the Lancers comeback but managed 4 strikeouts. Jaden Griffin and Sam Ryan had 3 strikeouts each and limited the Lancers to 2 hits for the rest of the game.

After the game was put to bed with another RBI walk that brought Simon home in the 8th inning, VCU finished the job with a 12-6 road win at Longwood. Rams increase their current win streak to 3 and improve to 22-7 overall. VCU returns to Atlantic 10 play this weekend at La Salle in a 3 game road series. Game times in Philadelphia are down below.

•   Friday, April 5th- 3:00 PM
•   Saturday, April 6th- 1:00 PM
•   Sunday, April 7th- 11:00 AM

Mark Turner

Mark graduated from VCU in 2014 with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. He started as a fan of the Black & Gold in the stands his freshman year. Mark was known as "Kazie" for his charismatic fandom with the VCU's student organization the Rowdy Rams. While at VCU he gained experience in sports media with WVCW on a sports radio show called Rowdy Radio. Following graduation, Mark continued crafting his social media skills with the Richmond Kickers while also handling VCU coverage. He is a true fan of the Rams and vocally passionate on and off camera. After the final whistle, you can probably find him at local RVA bar or brewery enjoying a drink and conversation.