RICHMOND, Va. – The 2023 collegiate baseball season is here and the back-to-back Atlantic 10 Baseball Tournament champion VCU Rams get their third title defense underway, with a new head coach and tons of new faces the winning tradition is set to continue heading into the new year.
 
VCU begins its title defense in Conway, S.C. when they travel to Coastal Carolina for a weekend tournament where they will face Middle Tennessee to open the season on Friday, Feb. 17 before seeing Fairfield on Saturday, Feb. 18 and hosting Coastal on Sunday, Feb. 19.
 
The 2023 season marks the first for head coach Bradley LeCroy, who took over the program in August after over two decades of coaching experience and success. LeCroy added Andrew Cox (hitting coach) and Tanner Gordon (pitching coach), to go along with the returning Andrew Llewellyn to round out an experienced staff to lead VCU into the 2023 season and beyond.
 
"We are very fortunate as a staff to take over a winning program that has a great culture and mindset," said LeCroy. "This is also a program that has a large collection of older guys returning, which is important because they know how to win and how things are done here at VCU. That collection of players was just one win away from a Super Regional in 2022."
 
The Rams were picked second in the 2023 Atlantic 10 Baseball Preseason Poll, receiving 125 votes and four first-place votes, finishing just five votes and one first-place vote behind Davidson.
 
VCU returns 15 players who saw significant action during the 2022 season, including four starters in the field and five pitchers from a staff that boasted a team ERA of 3.91. Redshirt-junior and 2022 All-Atlantic 10 Second Team honoree Will Carlone highlights the returning position players, while junior starting left-handed pitcher Campbell Ellis returns to lead the VCU staff again.
 
The Rams are coming off a season in which they won 42 games, the third most in program history, an A-10 Tournament championship and a visit to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the 2022 NCAA Regionals. At those 2022 Chapel Hill Regionals, the Rams knocked off the Southeastern Conference's Georgia Bulldogs, along with a win over host No. 10 North Carolina on their way to finishing a historic season.
 
"Our expectations are to win every series," said LeCroy. "But we tell the guys every day, we always want to play great but we want to be playing our best baseball in May and June."
 
THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: The Rams will play 15 games at The Diamond before opening A-10 play with a visit on Mar. 31 by St. Bonaventure for a weekend series. During those 15 games the Rams will welcome Sacred Heart (Feb. 24-26), Canisius (Mar. 3), West Virginia (Mar. 4), Fairfield (Mar. 5), Cornell (Mar. 10-12), James Madison (Mar. 14), NJIT (Mar. 17-19), Longwood (Mar. 21) and Norfolk State (Mar. 28).
 
Throughout the non-conference slate the Rams will face 12 teams from the state of Virginia, only venturing over the state lines to face South Florida (Mar. 24-26), Middle Tennessee (Feb. 17), Fairfield (Feb. 18), Coastal Carolina (Feb. 19) and North Carolina (Feb. 28-Mar. 1). In-state the Rams will twice see Virginia, James Madison, Longwood and Old Dominion in home-and-home matchups and additionally just once the Rams will face Liberty, Norfolk State, VMI and William & Mary.
 
Both North Carolina and Virginia begin 2023 inside the NCAA Division I Baseball Top 25 with the Tar Heels coming in at No. 12 and the Cavaliers sit at No. 19.
 
THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: For the second time in three seasons, the Rams will host the A-10 Baseball Tournament, with that set to run at The Diamond from May 23-27. VCU welcomed the A-10 back in 2021, with the 2022 tournament being held by Davidson.
 
The Rams will host four A-10 series during the season, making four road trips for a total of eight A-10 weekends. St. Bonaventure, George Mason (Apr. 14-16), Saint Louis (Apr. 30) and Richmond (May 12-14) will all visit the Diamond. VCU will make weekend trips to Saint Joseph's (Apr. 7-9), George Washington (Apr. 21-23), Davidson (May 4-6) and Rhode Island (May 18-20).
 
Over the last five full years played, the Rams have gone an impressive 86-30 in A-10 play and they boasted a 19-5 conference record in 2022. VCU will look to continue that during the 2023 campaign.
 
THE INFIELD: VCU's infield will be a competitive spot, with a large collection of new faces battling to earn spots in the lineup.
 
Brandon Eike, Ethan Brooks, Harrison Long, William Bean, Macho Santiago, Ethan Serrano, Jake Thilges and Art Schoenstadt will join returners Griffin Boone and Carlone as they look to fill out the infield.
 
Bean has already put a stamp on shortstop through the fall and preseason, while Eike, Long, Santiago, Serrano and Thilges will compete for the corner spots. At second Brooks, Boone and Schoenstadt have been improving each other throughout the preseason as they battle for the starting spot on opening day.
 
THE OUTFIELD: VCU's deepest location, in terms of returning Rams, is the outfield with 2022 contributors Cooper Benzin, Logan Amiss, AJ Mathis, Devan Barnett, Scottie O'Bryan and Jessie Robinson Jr. all back for 2023. The returning Rams are joined by newcomers Gavyn Boyle, Aden Hill and Devan Zirwas, with all four freshmen looking to make an impact.
 
With the combined experience and injection of new talent, the spacious Diamond outfield should be well covered by Rams throughout the 2023 season.
 
"We've got a good problem with our lineup since we have a large collection of guys returning that have a lot of experience," said LeCroy. "We also have a good and talented group coming in, so whenever you have inter-squad competition it's a good thing."
 
THE PITCHING STAFF: On the mound the Rams will be a collection of experience and energy with a large collection of returners and new faces filling out the VCU rotation and bullpen.
 
VCU's weekend is lining up to start with A-10 Preseason All-Conference (Perfect Game) honoree Ellis getting the nod on Fridays. From there the Rams have a collection of returners and newcomers to fill out the weekend, as Mason Delane, Christian Gordon, Cade Dessler and James Gladden will look to battle it out to give VCU a consistent three-man weekend rotation throughout the season and solid starts during the midweek matchups.
 
The Rams' staff is rounded out by newcomers Kyras Dawson, Justin Walton, Evan Bert, Brandon Erka, Jack Goleski, Zachary Peters, Brian Curley and Maison Martinez. VCU also returns veterans Justin Humenay and Nick Frasier, who both saw a combined 26 innings of work during 2022, to set up a strong staff of arms for the Rams.
 
"It all does start with Campbell [Ellis]," said LeCroy. "He had a really good year in 2022 and he continues to improve each day. But you've also got a guy like Mason Delane who has pitched a lot in his college career and is back healthy this year."
 
THE BACKSTOPS: VCU is strong and deep behind the plate with three Rams returning for the 2023 season.
 
Jacob Selden, Casey Gibbs and Nic Ericsson all return from the 2022 squad having seen significant action and they will look to continue to build with the pitching staff working with returning and incoming Rams. Joining VCU's three returning catchers are joined by Austin Younce, who was named by Perfect Game as the A-10 Preseason Freshman of the Year.
 
PRESEASON AWARDS/POLLS

2023 A-10 BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL

RANK	SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES)	POINTS
1	Davidson (5)	130
2	VCU (4)	125
t3	Richmond (1)	103
t3	Saint Louis	103
5	Dayton (1)	92
6	Rhode Island	85
7	Saint Joseph's	81
8	George Mason (1)	70
9	Fordham	52
10	George Washington	51
11	UMass	27
12	St. Bonaventure	17

ALL-ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE (Perfect Game):
Campbell Ellis, Jr. LHP
Will Carlone, R-Jr. DH/1B
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR (Perfect Game):
Austin Younce, C
 
2022 RETURNING RAMS' STATS
 
HITTERS:
Will Carlone: .326 BA | 178 AB | 32 R | 58 H | 11 2B | 8 HR | 47 RBI | .522 SLG% | 4 SB
Cooper Benzin: .289 BA | 185 AB | 35 R | 51 H | 8 2B | 2 3B | 4 HR | 30 RBI | .405 SLG% | 7 SB
Logan Amiss: .267 BA | 247 AB | 41 R | 66 H | 16 2B | 2 HR | 35 RBI | .356 SLG% | 5 SB
AJ Mathis: .301 BA | 123 AB | 30 R | 37 H | 5 2B | 2 3B | 2 HR | 15 RBI | .423 SLG% | 7 SB
Devan Barnett: .255 BA | 47 AB | 6 R | 12 H | 2 2B | 1 HR | 10 RBI | .362 SLG% | 1 SB
Jesse Robinson Jr.: .203 BA | 64 AB | 11 R | 13 H | 9 RBI | .203 SLG% | 4 SB
Casey Gibbs: .194 BA | 36 AB | 4 R | 7 H | 1 2B | 6 RBI | .222 SLG%
Scottie O'Bryan: .184 BA | 98 AB | 24 R | 18 H | 4 2B | 3 HR | 14 RBI | .316 SLG% | 8 SB
Griffin Boone: .125 BA | 8 AB | 2 R | 1 H | .125 SLG%
Nic Ericsson: .104 BA | 67 AB | 8 R | 7 H | 1 2B | 2 HR | 6 RBI | .209 SLG%
 
PITCHERS:
Campbell Ellis: 3.27 ERA | 5-4 | 21 GS | 74.1 IP | 62 K | .242 B/AVG.
Nick Frazier: 2.55 ERA | 2-0 | 12 APP | 17.2 IP | 11 K | .175 B/AVG.
Mason Delane: 4.56 ERA | 2-1 | 9 GS | 49.1 IP | 43 K | .253 B/AVG.
Justin Humenay: 5.40 ERA | 2-0 | 6 APP | 8.1 IP | 8 K | .200 B/AVG.
Cade Dressler: 6.61 ERA | 0-1 | 13 APP | 16.1 IP | 14 K | .370 B/AVG.
 
Rams' fans can click here to purchase tickets, with VCU's home opener set for Feb. 24 in the opening game of a three-game set against Sacred Heart. Fans can also call (804) 828-7267 and speak to a VCU Ticket Office representative.