Score: VCU 16, Longwood 6
Location: Richmond, Va. (The Diamond
Winning Pitcher: Maison Martinez (1-0)
Losing Pitcher: Ried Dittner (0-1)
Records: VCU 2-2, Longwood 3-1
 
The short story: Sophomore Maison Martinez tossed three strong innings, to back up VCU Baseball's best offensive day of the early season as the Rams hammered Longwood to take a win in the 2024 home opener.
 
LEADING OFF

• The game ended in the bottom of the eighth as VCU reached the 10-run minimum after seven innings needed to end the game on the "10-run rule". The two coaches had agreed at the start of the game that if the score reached that point either way the game would end
• Martinez got the win coming out of the pen, throwing 3.0 scoreless frames, striking out four and giving up just one hit
• Senior Brandon Eike led the day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one home run, one double, three RBIs and two runs scored
• Freshman Chris McHugh put up a 3-for-6 day, while junior Casey Kleinman, redshirt freshman Devan Zirwas and redshirt seniors Cooper Benzin and Nic Ericsson all joined Eike with a pair of base hits
• Benzin added four walks and sophomore Aden Hill walked three to go along with three runs scored for the Ram right fielder
• Redshirt junior Jack Hoeymans came out of the pen to throw 1.1 scoreless frames, striking out three and giving up zero walks
• Longwood's Hayden Harris (3-for-3) and Noah Campabelli (3-for-5) led the Lancers offensively

THE STRETCH

• Longwood scored a pair of runs in the opening frame to open the game with a 2-0 lead
• But in the bottom half of the frame, senior William Bean and Hill knocked in three runs with two runs coming from Bean who knocked in Eike and Kleinman on a base hit to center
• The Rams then padded the lead in the third, having loaded the bases on walks from Hill and Benzin and a hit by pitch for graduate Ethan Iannuzzi. Ericsson knocked in Hill on a base hit to left and Kleinman grounded out to score Iannuzzi
• Eike then stepped into the box, smashing a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left center to bring home Benzin and make it 7-2
• After three runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth, Longwood pulled within one run at 7-6, the closest the Lancers would get to catching the Rams for the rest of the game
• Three runs in the sixth, helped by back-to-back bases loaded walks by Kleinman and Eike extended VCU's lead to 10-6
• Four RBI singles in the seventh set up the Rams to end things in the eighth needing just two more runs to make it a 10-run lead
• The game was finished off when the Rams again loaded the bases. Benzin and graduate Jake Wortman then drew back-to-back walks to bring home the winning runs making it 16-6 and ending things

NOTABLE

• The 16 runs scored were the most for VCU since scoring 23 against St. Bonaventure on Mar. 21, 2023
• Over four games, Benzin is hitting .462 with one home run, five runs scored and four RBIs
• Eike now has two home runs over the first four games, hitting .357 with four runs scored and a team-high six RBIs

NEXT UP
VCU continues its home stand, with a weekend series against Merrimack College starting on Friday, Feb. 23 and running through the weekend, wrapping up on Sunday, Feb. 25. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m. and all three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.