FINAL: VCU 2, Temple 1  (Richmond, Va. – The Diamond at the HDL Inc. Athletic Village)

VCU STARTERS: Cullen (CF), Bunn (LF), Cujas (3B), Mikionis (1B), Machin (SS), Buran (RF), Malan (DH), Crimi (2B), Octavi (C), Dwyer (P)

TEMPLE STARTERS: Queja (2B), Lustrino (SS), Knabe (3B), Peterson (1B), Nist (C), Elko (DH), Stiles (LF), Hall (CF), Kerrigan (RF), Peterson (P)

THE BASICS: Sophomores Heath Dwyer and Matt Lees held Temple to just one run, and senior Brent Mikionis' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted VCU to a 2-1 victory over Temple in the first game of the Atlantic 10 series.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• VCU (16-15, 3-4 Atlantic 10) broke a scorless tie with a sacrifice fly from sophomore Vimael Machin in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Joey Cujas and Mikionis recorded back-to-back singles to start the rally. Machin followed with a sacrfice fly, scoring Cujas, giving VCU a 1-0 lead.
• Temple (12-17, 2-7) tied the game in the top of the eighth inning. Jimmy Kerrigan singled to start the inning, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jordan Queja. The next batter Nick Lustrino singled to center, plating Kerrigan and tying the score 1-1.
• The Rams regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Freshman James Bunn and Cujas led off the inning with back-to-back singles putting runners on the corners. The next batter, Mikionis, followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Bunn, who was just ahead of the tag. The run gave VCU a 2-1 advantage.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Dwyer, the starting pitcher, went 7.1 innnings, scattering seven hits, allowing one run, and fanning three.
• Lees came on for the final 1.2 innings, allowing one hit, and striking out one.
• Senior Taylor Buran extended his hit streak to 14-games. It's the longest active streak in the Atlantic 10 and the sixth longest this year in the league.
• Bunn, who was 2-for-4, has reached base in 25 of the last 27 games he's played in.
• Cujas and Mikionis each collected a pair of hits for the Rams.  
• Temple's starter Patrick Peterson threw a complete game, allowing two runs on nine hits. He was charged with his fourth loss of the season.

QUOTABLE
"It was a good to get a win in the first game of the series. Heath Dwyer was fantastic for us and had a great start. I thought the fans were great tonight and helped pull us through. A 2-1 game is something you are going to see on Friday night and we have to play better to win on Saturday and Sunday."
-VCU Head Coach Shawn Stiffler on the win

WHAT'S AHEAD
VCU and Temple continue their three-game series tomorrow, Saturday, April13, at 3 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday, April 14 at 1 p.m. All of the games are at The Diamond, part of the HDL Inc. Athletic Village.