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RICHMOND, Va. – Five La Salle pitchers limited a potent VCU offense to three runs and five hits as the Blue & Gold took game one of the weekend series, 6-3, over the Rams on Friday evening at the Diamond. With the win, La Salle improves to 6-5 in the Atlantic 10 (11-22 overall) while VCU dips to 26-9, 7-4.

"The pitchers did a really good job for us tonight," head coach Mike Lake said post-game. "The bullpen came in and threw strikes and we played good defense to back them up." 

Shane Hollman made the start on the hill for the Explorers and threw 4.2 innings of two-run ball, striking out three while scattering four hits. Mike McLeod finished the fifth after Hollman was pulled and picked up his first win of the year (1-0).

Mark Williams (2-4, 2 RBI, R) and Joey Ravert (2-4, 2 RBI) anchored the Explorer offense, driving in the first four runs of the game including all three in the third which gave the Blue & Gold a 4-1 cushion. VCU starter Heath Dwyer labored through five frames and was charged with a season-high six earned runs as he took his first loss of the campaign (4-1).

Justin Korenblatt (0-2, 2 RBI, R) picked up RBI in the fourth and sixth innings which proved to be more than enough offense for the Explorers on this day.

"We had a couple timely hits that picked us up tonight," Lake said. "We have a couple players hitting here and there but as a unit we're looking to keep getting better and more consistent."

A trio of Explorers silenced VCU's sticks in the last three frames, as the Rams couldn't manage even a hit down the stretch. Tom Fazzini, Adam Cherry, and Shawn O'Neill (S, 4) combined to retire the final nine Rams of the ballgame.

The clubs will square off again on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

NOTES: George Smith Jr (1-4, BB) extended his reached base streak to a team-best 16 consecutive games…Kevin Baron (1-4, RBI) extended his reached base streak to 10 games and his team-best hitting streak to six games