Score: VCU 11, Princeton 15
Location: Richmond, Va. (The Diamond)
Winning Pitcher: Jacob Faulkner (1-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jack Hoeymans (0-1)
Records: VCU 14-6, Princeton 4-12
 
The short story: Despite taking a solid lead midway through the game, VCU Baseball could not hold off a late charging Princeton Tiger side, falling in the final game of a four-game set where the Rams took the first three games to go an impressive 3-1 on the weekend.

LEADING OFF

• VCU led 11-6 midway through the game, but the Tigers chipped away to come back over the final four frames
• Junior Casey Kleinman had a big blow in the game, hitting a grand slam, while going 2-for-4 with four RBIs and one walk
• Senior William Bean knocked in three runs, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored
• Redshirt senior Cooper Benzin and sophomore Aden Hill each had a pair of hits and both hit one double in the game
• Princeton's Jake Koonin had big day for the Tigers, going 4-for-6 with 6 RBIs while Caden Shapiro started and played DH, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs

THE STRETCH

• Over the opening three frames, both teams combined for 11 runs and when the dust settled the Rams held a slim 6-5 lead
• Princeton scored two in the first and second innings and added one more in the third
• In the second, the Rams got on the board on RBIs by Benzin and redshirt senior Nic Ericsson to make it 4-3 Princeton
• The Rams added three more in the third to take a 6-5 lead, the big hit coming on Bean's two-RBI single through the left side that scored a pair of Rams
• Princeton tied it in the fifth to make it 6-6 but in the bottom half the Rams opened it up with five runs of their own
• The big blow of the fifth was off the bat of Kleinman who took an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam, the first of his career, making it 11-6 after Bean had knocked in another run earlier in the frame
• VCU could not hold the lead as in the top of the sixth Princeton answer with five of their own to tie it up at 11-11
• Things remained tied until the Tigers broke the tie on a solo home run from Koonin in the eighth and with three more runs in the ninth left the Rams with a deficit they could not come back from

NOTABLE

• Kleinman's grand slam was the first of the season by a Ram

NEXT UP
The Rams hit the road for the next four games, heading to Liberty on Tues., Mar. 19. VCU then heads west to Cincinnati, Ohio for a weekend set against reigning Big East champion Xavier, with that set to run over the weekend of Mar. 22-24.