Score: VCU 8, Fordham 5
Location: Richmond, Va. (The Diamond)
Records: VCU 13-28 (6-13 A-10), Fordham 20-23 (10-9 A-10)
 
THE SHORT STORY: VCU baseball never relinquished its first-inning lead, belting a pair of home runs, including Jacob Lee's 10^th of his freshman campaign, to back up a complete game performance from Owen Tappy on the mound. VCU took the series opener over Fordham with a score of 8-5.
 
LEADING OFF:

• Owen Tappy tossed VCU's first complete game since Mason Delane went the distance against NJIT in 2023
• Tappy limited Fordham to just two scoring innings, facing the minimum in six of his nine innings of work
• Nick Flores led off the game with a hit for the third consecutive contest
• With his 10^th home run, Jacob Lee tied Danny Lopaze's 2000 season for the most homers by a true freshman in program history, trailing Tyler Locklear's overall freshman record (16) by six
• Trent Adelman extended his reached-base streak to 20 games with a pair of hits
• Sean Swenson smashed his sixth home run of the year
• With his first career extra-base hit, Nick April-Gath extended his hitting streak to 11 games
• At the plate, VCU struck out just three times, the second lowest this season
• The teams were tied with nine hits apiece

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Tappy set the pace early, retiring the first six Fordham batters in order and notching three strikeouts in opening two frames of the series
• VCU worked up a 5-0 lead through two innings on Lee's three-run shot as the third batter up in the contest, a Sean Swenson RBI single and a run-scoring balk
• Fordham fired back in the third replicating VCU's first-inning success with a four-run frame of their own, cutting the lead to a run, 5-4
• Swenson led off the fifth inning with an opposite field home run before April-Gath and Lee tacked on two more runs for the home team, 8-4
• In a last-ditch effort, Fordham managed a final run on a solo shot before Tappy shut the door on his complete game with his eighth strikeout of the evening, earning his fourth win, 8-5

 
UP NEXT:
VCU will return to the road for the week, kicking off a four-game road trip in Charlottesville, Va., against Virginia on Tuesday, April 29, before continuing Atlantic 10 play at St. Bonaventure on Friday-Sunday, May 2-4.