VCU baseball’s postseason run ended on May 31 with a 10-0 loss to East Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional elimination game at Boshamer Stadium. The Rams, under Head Coach Sean Thompson, concluded their season with a 38-25 record after their first NCAA Tournament win under Thompson earlier in the competition.
Michael Petite recorded VCU’s 126th double of the season during the first inning, giving the team the third-most doubles in program history. In the sixth inning, Nick Flores hit an infield single that made this year’s Rams squad the first since 2010 to have three players—Jacob Lee (79 hits), Nate Kirkpatrick (73 hits), and Flores himself—with more than 70 hits each.
The Rams were unable to overcome an early deficit as East Carolina scored three runs in the opening frame. Despite leaving five runners stranded on base through three innings, VCU could not close the gap. Cooper Campbell kept East Carolina from extending its lead until the fifth inning by using two double plays and recording three strikeouts. However, East Carolina added runs over each of the next three frames for a final score of 10-0.
Caleb Clover faced only three batters in his appearance during the eighth inning as he closed out VCU’s season on the mound. This game marked VCU’s first elimination-game loss of this postseason; previously, they had gone undefeated across four such games during both Atlantic 10 Championship play and NCAA Regionals.
VCU’s season included an Atlantic 10 Championship title, two wins over nationally ranked opponents, and an NCAA Regional victory against Tennessee—a performance that marked a historic turnaround with a 21-game improvement compared to last year.
