May 16, 2009

RAMS’ 2009 SEASON COMES TO CLOSE WITH 13-4 LOSS TO DELAWARE
Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – There are 279 days between now and the next time the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team will step on the field for a game.

Rest assure every one of those days will be used to its fullest by each member of the program to try and return the Rams to the glory they saw earlier this decade.

”That’s our focus right now,” Head Coach Paul Keyes said. “No one likes losing and we’re going to spend every minute we can working on getting this program back to where we were.”

The 2009 season came to a close on Saturday afternoon after a 13-4 loss to the Fightin’ Blue Hens of the University of Delaware in the finale of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series at Bob Hannah Stadium.

With the loss, the Rams conclude the year with a mark of 20-26 and finish 8-16 in conference action. Delaware earns a berth in the CAA Tournament, improving to 27-18 overall and 11-10 in CAA play.

For the first time in the series, both teams went scoreless in the first inning. It was the last time the Fightin’ Blue Hens would go scoreless in an inning the rest of the day.

Redshirt sophomore Joe Van Meter (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) got the offense going with a leadoff double in the top of the second. Two batters later, freshman Josh Alford (Midlothian, Va.) delivered an RBI groundout to put the Black & Gold up 1-0.

Ryan Reed wouldn’t let the Rams get comfortable with their lead, launching the second pitch of the bottom of the second over the left-centerfield wall to tie the game at 1-1.

Back-to-back singles by junior Doug Otto (Jefferson City, Mo.) and senior Justin Wright (Yorktown, Va.) put runners on the corners with one out in the top of the third. Sophomore Michael Cheatham (Chesterfield, Va.) laced an RBI single into right field and Van Meter lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate two runs and give VCU a 3-1 cushion.

Kyle Davis led off the home half of the third with a single into left and Carlos Alonso lifted a double to right-centerfield to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. An RBI groundout by Ryan Cuneo and a sacrifice fly from Chris Nehl plated two Delaware runs and evened the score at 3-3.

Fightin’ Blue Hen starter Rich O’Donald would settle into a groove, while his offense wouldn’t let any VCU hurler get off the hook.

An RBI double by Josh Dean and an RBI single from Davis put two more runs on the scoreboard for Delaware in the fourth to claim its first lead of the day at 5-3.

A two-RBI single by Pat Dameron capped off a three-run fifth inning as Delaware pushed its advantage to 8-3. Cuneo would add a solo home run, his third of the series, in the sixth to increase the lead to 9-3.

Meanwhile, O’Donald sailed along, retiring 11 straight Ram hitters until a single by freshman Paul Nice (Powhatan, Va.) in the top of the seventh.

A two-run home run by Dameron in the seventh gave Delaware a commanding 11-3 lead after seven innings.

Wright would end his VCU career in style, lining an RBI double off the left field wall in the top of the eighth to plate Otto and make the score 11-4.

Once again, Delaware would answer with two more runs in the bottom of the inning to claim its biggest lead of the series at 13-4.

Corey Crispell closed out the game for the second day in a row for the Fightin’ Blue Hens with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Junior Robbie Andrews (Covington, Va.) (1-2) was handed the loss, after surrendering five runs in four innings of work. O’Donald (5-3) picked up the win, allowing just six hits and three earned runs in seven innings of work.

Offensively, Wright finished his career with a 2-for-3 performance with a run scored and an RBI, while Nice tallied a career-high two hits on the afternoon. Otto scored two runs on the day, finishing as the team leader in that category with 38 on the year.