VCU secured two victories on May 23 at Capital One Park in Tysons, Virginia, defeating top-seeded Saint Joseph’s 13-3 and outlasting Rhode Island 18-16 in a high-scoring contest to force a second game in the Atlantic 10 Championship Final series.
The wins allow VCU to continue its postseason run, setting up a winner-take-all matchup against Rhode Island for the conference title. The Rams’ offensive performance against Rhode Island marked their highest run total ever in a conference tournament game.
Dante DeFranco led VCU offensively over both games with four hits, five runs, and five runs batted in. Jacob Lee hit his second home run of the tournament, tying the program record for career home runs at 66 and moving into third place for single-season homers with 17. Nick Flores entered VCU’s top ten leaderboard for single-season doubles after hitting his 21st of the year. Zach Peters earned his third win of the tournament against Saint Joseph’s, while Patrick Steitz recorded his first relief appearance at the Division I level and notched VCU’s 500th strikeout this season.
In the resumed contest versus Saint Joseph’s, VCU broke open a tie game by scoring ten runs in the seventh inning. Against Rhode Island, both teams combined for multiple lead changes before aggressive baserunning allowed VCU to secure victory late in the ninth inning.
The Rams will play No. 5 seed Rhode Island again on Sunday, May 24 at noon at Capital One Park to determine this year’s Atlantic 10 champion.
