VCU’s offense traveled to UMASS a couple days early, leaving their bullpen to fend for themselves in a 5-1 loss to William and Mary.

Jonathan Ebersole and Chase Bailey were the starters in this matchup. Neither pitcher would make it out of the 4^th inning. Ebersole was making his 2^nd start and Bailey was starting a game for the first time all season.

Logan Farrar got things started for VCU in the first inning. The senior crushed a double to left center. He would eventually score from third after a double steal. Gransback got thrown out at 2^nd base allowing Farrar to get home. 4 runners got the plate for the Rams in that inning, they would top that number just once the rest of the game. They had a fruitless 5 batter 8^th inning.

VCU only managed 3 hits and 4 walks (3 were hit batters) in the game. Farrar’s early run would be the only offense of the game for the Black and Gold.

The Tribe held quiet for most of the game but a 4^th inning explosion gave them a 4-1 advantage. Ebersole was throwing well through the first 3 innings but he couldn’t record an out in the 4^th. The senior allowed 3 consecutive singles before the inning culminated with a bases clearing triple off the bat of Charles Ameer. Ebersole left the game with a runner on third and no outs, his team trailing 3-1. He took the loss and is now 1-1.

Connor Gillispie and Benjamin Dum combined to get VCU out of the inning but not before they fell behind 4-1. Dum pitched 2.2 scoreless innings with 3 strike outs. Overall the Rams’ bullpen did their job. They were asked to provide 6 innings of work and in that time they only surrendered a single run. That is a successful outing for any relief core. The Rams used 7 pitchers and the Tribe used 6.

W&M scratched across another run in the 8^th to make it 5-1 but in this game that was overkill. VCU’s offense managed to put two runners twice. If not for hit batters the Rams would have only got 4 runners aboard. Farrar and Gransback, were the only players to record hits, Gransback had 2 of his team’s 3.

The Tribe ended the night with 5 runs on 11 hits, most of those numbers can be traced back to that 4^th innings. W&M got an even distribution of offense with 7 of the 9 starters getting a hit and 3 different players getting a pair of hits.

VCU and W&M are both 16-13. The Rams are still very much in contention for the regular season A-10 title. They will get back to work on that goal this weekend with a series at UMASS.

Derek Marion

Derek graduated from VCU in 2015 with a degree in broadcast journalism. As the Sports Director for VCU’s student run radio station, WVCW, he garnered a handful of nominations for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems Awards and received an award with fellow VCUSports.com contributor Darnell Myrick for their Men’s Basketball Play-by-Play. He’s worked as a producer for multiple radio stations in Richmond and served as the In-Game Host for the Washington Nationals. Derek strives to bring a thoughtful and measured approach to his coverage of VCU sports, while still holding on to his zealous enthusiasm for his alma mater.