Final Score: George Washington 9, VCU 2
Winning Pitcher: Logan Koester (4-2)
Losing Pitcher: Zachary Peters (2-4)
Location: Arlington, Va. (Barcroft Park)
Records: VCU 19-19 (5-5), George Washington 14-25 (5-5)
 
The Short Story: Five runs in the opening two frames put VCU Baseball in a hole early they could not climb out of, as the Rams dropped their Atlantic 10 weekend opening game at George Washington.
 
LEADING OFF: 

• The Colonials got eight innings of lights-out pitching from starter Logan Koester and scored one run in the first and fourth in the second to build an early lead that they would hold throughout.
• Nic Ericsson had another solid day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one home run and two runs scored.
• Both Cooper Benzin and Jake Thilges had multi-hit days with Benzin knocking in a run.
• Peters started and went five innings, while Maison Martinez came in and pitched three innings of work to finish the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• Over the first two innings George Washington built a five-run lead, scoring one in the first and four in the second. The big blow came in the second inning when Michael Kohn hit a two-run home run to right center.
• Ericsson led off the third and advanced to second on a close play at first when AJ Mathis grounded out.
• Benzin then smacked a single to center. Leaving on the ping of the bat, Ericsson hustled all the way from second to slide in ahead of the throw from center to put VCU on the board.
• The Rams would, unfortunately, fail to get another run across the plate until the ninth, when Ericsson again answered the call taking a 1-0 pitch and smashing it off the light pole in left field for a solo home run.
• But over the middle part of the game, George Washington slowly built their lead, scoring two in the fourth and one in the seventh and eighth to take the series' opening game, 9-2.

UP NEXT: VCU and George Washington return to Barcroft Park for an 11:30 a.m. first pitch tomorrow (Apr. 21). The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.