Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament
Score: #2 VCU 4, #7 Saint Joseph's 2
Location: Tysons, Va. (Capital One Park)
Records: VCU 34-21, Saint Joseph's 26-25
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The short story: Eli Weisner and
Brandon Eike slammed back-to-back homers, while sophomore
Brian Curley threw nearly six innings of lights-out relief to lift VCU past Saint Joseph's and into the winner's bracket Tuesday at the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
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LEADING OFF
- Eike went 4-for-4 in the game and reached base five times
- Weisner turned in a 2-for-4 performance and drove in a pair of VCU runs
- Curley twirled 5.2 innings of one-run relief. He scattered five hits and struck out six to improve to 6-0 this season
- Senior righthander Nick Cosentino started and threw three innings of one-run ball for the Rams. He surrendered just one hit and struck out threeÂ
THE STRETCH
- VCU senior centerfielder Cooper Benzin snapped a 2-all tie when he lifted a sacrifice fly into short right field to score Eike in the bottom of the seventh. Eike was able to slide in just under the tag of the Hawks catcher on a close play at the plate. The Rams added an insurance run in the eighth on a Weisner RBI single
- Curley gave way to righty Owen Tappy with two on and two out in the ninth, and the Hampden-Sydney transfer struck out the only batter he faced to clinch the win and his fifth save of the season
- Eike and Weisner staked VCU to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back home runs – Eike the opposite way, Weisner to left center – in the bottom of the first inning off Saint Joseph's starter Domenic Picone. It's the first time a VCU duo has hit consecutive homers since Eike and Jake Thilges accomplished the feat on March 31 last season
- The Hawks' Ryan Weingartner smacked a solo homer in the third, and Saint Joseph's knotted the game at 2-2 in the fourth on a Ryan Picollo RBI double
- VCU has won eight consecutive A-10 Tournament games
NEXT UP
VCU advances into the winner's bracket and will face the winner of Tuesday's nightcap of Dayton and UMass on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Capitol One Park. That contest will be televised on ESPN+.
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