April 21, 2009
RAMS DROP 8-1 DECISION TO 11TH-RANKED VIRGINIA
Gonzalez notches two doubles, RBI in home loss
Box Score
RICHMOND, Va. – Just about an hour before the first pitch of tonight’s non-conference match-up between the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team and the Virginia Cavaliers, a bright rainbow was visible beyond the outfield wall.

Unfortunately for the Rams, there was no pot of gold on the other end.

In front of a crowd of nearly 2,000, the Black & Gold dropped an 8-1 decision at home to the 11th-ranked Cavaliers at The Diamond on Tuesday evening.

“We lost to quality opponent tonight,” Head Coach Paul Keyes said. “I thought we did a good job for the most part tonight, but they were able to string together there hits and ours were scattered.”

UVA pounded out 11 hits and limited the potent Rams offense to just five hits, two of which came off the bat of junior Richard Gonzalez (Caguas, Puerto Rico).

The Cavaliers got things rolling right out of the gate when John Hicks singled into center field, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single by Danny Hultzen to grab a 1-0 advantage.

Freshman Ryan Crosby (Broad Run, Va.) learned just how good the UVA offense coming right out of the bullpen in the third after Hicks was hit by a pitch, Hultzen singled and Grovatt drew a walk to load the bases. Steven Proscia launched a 2-0 pitch deep over the left field wall for a grand slam and pushed the Cavalier lead to 5-0.

Crosby settled in nicely and classmate Kyle Pelchy (Yorktown, Va.) followed with two scoreless frames, while VCU tried to get the offense going in the seventh inning.

Senior Justin Wright (Yorktown, Va.) singled into left field and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Gonzalez would come through one batter later as he scorched a double over the right fielder’s head to plate Wright and cut into the UVA lead at 5-1.

Junior Matt Leskiw (Plains, Pa.) drew a two-out walk to put two runners on, but reliever Neal Davis was able to get out of the jam and preserve the four-run cushion.

A sacrifice fly by Franco Valdes in the eighth extended the lead to 6-1, while two more Cavalier runs in the ninth capped off the scoring at 8-1.

UVA starter Matt Packer (2-4) picked up the win tossing five scoreless innings, while Davis recorded his first save of the season. Junior Phillip Deane (Richmond, Va.) (2-3) was dealt the loss after giving up one run in two innings of work.

“I thought our pitchers did a pretty decent job tonight,” Keyes said. “They jumped on Crosby a little out of the gate, but that was it really. All of our guys did what we wanted them to do.”

Offensively, Gonzalez was the only Ram with a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-3 with an RBI on the evening.