Brandon Eike ignites early power play, VCU skates by UR in A-10 tournament (2024)

As has been the case often this VCU season, Brandon Eike ignited the Rams.

The Atlantic 10 player of the year homered twice in the first four innings as the Rams whacked the University of Richmond 13-7 on Friday in the A-10 tournament at Capital One Park in Tysons. VCU blasted five homers, exclamation points in a 15-hit attack. The Rams led 13-1 before UR scored six runs in the ninth inning.

This was a showdown involving the only two unbeatens remaining in the seven-team, double-elimination tournament. Second-seeded VCU (36-21), which led 8-0 in the fourth inning, advanced to Saturday’s noon championship game. VCU will seek its fourth A-10 title.

The Rams captured A-10 championships in 2015, 2021 and 2022. In program history, they have made 13 NCAA tournament appearances.

Fourth-seeded UR (26-31) dropped into the losers bracket and faced another game Friday night, looking for a second shot, and perhaps a third crack, at VCU as the tournament unfolds. The Spiders haven’t been to the NCAA tournament since they won the 2003 A-10 championship.

Eike, a senior third baseman from Powhatan High who transferred to VCU from North Carolina, made it 3-0 with a bases-empty homer in the first inning before the Spiders recorded an out. Freshman first baseman Chris McHugh got the Rams off to a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer.

In the Rams’ two tournament victories leading into Friday’s meeting with UR, Eike went 7 for 8 with a pair of homers. Against the Spiders, he went 2 for 5 and scored three times. Eike has 13 home runs this season.

Ram Eli Weisner homered in the fourth inning, and he also entered Friday’s game with two tournament home runs, including a grand slam in VCU’s 11-3 win over Dayton on Wednesday.

VCU extended the lead over UR to 6-0 in the second inning on a Weisner RBI single and two runs that scored on an error. The Rams made it 8-0 in the fourth inning on back-to-back homers by Eike and Weisner, a graduate student who attended Deep Run High before spending time at Louisburg College and Charlotte.

The Rams’ power punch overshadowed an outstanding start by senior lefty Christian Gordon, who worked seven innings, allowing six hits and one run while striking out six and walking one. Gordon began his college career at Liberty and also pitched at the State College of Florida, before transferring to VCU.

His job on Friday came with a limited level of stress after the Rams grabbed the quick 3-0 lead that grew to 8-0 in the fourth inning.

The Spiders were not required to review the video to recognize who among the Rams did the most damage. The first four batters in the VCU lineup – second baseman Casey Kleinman, McHugh, Eike and Weisner — halfway through the game were 7 for 13 with six RBI and seven runs scored.

The Spiders and Rams closed the regular season with a three-game set at UR. Richmond won the first game, and VCU won the next two, building momentum for its tournament run. VCU has won eight of the past 11 meetings with the Spiders.

The Rams have won eight of nine games heading into Saturday’s championship game.