FINAL: VCU 0 (9-9), Monmouth 7 (3-10)

LOCATION: The Diamond – Richmond, Va.

VCU STARTERS: Farrar (CF), Bunn (LF), Davis (3B), Machin (SS), Carpenter (1B), Kerrigan (RF), Rabat (DH), Haymaker (C), Berezo (2B), Thompson (SP).

MONMOUTH STARTERS: Wilgus (CF), Perry (C), Hughes (3B), Gaetano (RF),  Moreno (1B), Shea (LF), Jacobson (DH), Lamberton (2B), Alessandrine (SS), Trimarco (SP)

THE BASICS: VCU finished up its first homestand of the season with a 7-0 loss at the hands of the Monmouth Hawks Tuesday night. The Rams scattered nine hits in the game and a season-high 15 position players saw the field tonight. Yet again the bullpen provided some stability in the later innings, allowing just one run in 5.2 innings of work.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Sean Thompson took the bump tonight for the Rams coming off of his stellar performance in the 12-5 victory over Penn last week. Tonight was a bit of a different story though, as he made it through just 3.1 innings while allowing six runs, five of which came across in the first inning. All five runs came on bases clearing doubles by the Hawks- one with two men on and the second coming with the bases loaded.
• Monmouth would strike again in the top of the fourth to go ahead 6-0. A sacrifice bunt attempt would be mishandled by VCU and allow the the man at the plate to reach first on an error. He would later score on a single up the middle by Steve Wilgus. Though the run came as the result of an error, the inning could have been much worse had it not been for Thompson making a heads up play and throwing out a runner at home plate as well as Thomas Gill picking off a runner at first base.
• The final Monmouth run would come in to score in the top of the seventh on yet another double, this one down the left field line that was deep enough to score the runner from first.
• In the end though, the Rams were not able to get much going offensively off of Monmouth starter Frank Trimarco. Despite the nine hits, just one VCU batter made it to third base all night and it came in the fourth inning when Nick Rabat advanced to third on a single by Walker Haymaker. The night would end with a 7-0 victory for the Hawks.

QUOTABLE: "I'm disappointed. Coming off of a good win last night, we got behind too early. We we're a little out of the zone in the first inning, we struggled to find a rythym and they took advantage of it. I thought we settled down and pitched well the rest of the game, but we put ourselves in a hole early on. The guys were grinding and pushing as hard as they could, but we just couldn't get anything going today. Now we get ready to play well this weekend against a very good East Carolina club." -Head Coach Shawn Stiffler

UP NEXT: The Rams will head back on the road for a weekend series with East Carolina. Friday's game starts at 6:30 pm.