Texas crushes VCU

Nine runs over the final three innings helped the 16th-ranked Longhorns of the University of Texas pull away from the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball, 17-4, in collegiate baseball action on Saturday afternoon. Costly miscues and seven free base runners proved to be the difference as eight of the 17 runs were of the unearned variety. With […]

February 23, 2008; 11:24 PM • by FTRea

With the loss, the Black and Gold fall to 0-2 on the young 2008 campaign, while Texas improves to a perfect 2-0 on the year.

Like the first game of the series, the Longhorns struck first as Michael Torres reached on an error and came around to score after back-to-back singles by All-American candidates Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell. Preston Clark’s fielder’s choice one batter later allowed Danks to come around and score to give Texas a 2-0 advantage after just one inning of play.

Texas would keep the pressure on in the second frame as Brandon Belt reached on a double and touched the plate one batter later as Kevin Keyes stroked an RBI single. Travis Tucker would manufacture the fourth Longhorn run as he laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Keyes and push the lead to 4-0 after two full innings of play.

The Rams would get on the board in the top of the fourth as junior transfer R.J. Schenk (Yorktown, Va.) reached on a walk and moved to second after fellow classmate Carlos Rodriguez (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) drew a base-on-balls as well. With two outs and an 0-2 count, junior Brad Bonney (Norfolk , Va.) ripped a single down the right field line to score Schenk and cut the Texas lead to 4-1.

The Longhorn offense would not go away as they put three runs on the board in the fourth and another run in the fifth to take a commanding 8-1 lead into the sixth inning of action.

Schenk would start another VCU rally as he dropped down a beautiful bunt single and moved to second on a single by fellow junior Justin Wright (Yorktown , Va.). Bonney would strike again as the third-year veteran laced another RBI single into right field to score Schenk. Freshman Matthew Leskiw (Plains, Pa.) then roped a two-RBI double down the left field line as the Rams cut the Texas advantage to 8-4.

Once again, Texas would not allow the Black and Gold any closer as they scored one in the sixth, three in the seventh and five in the eighth to pick up the 17-4 victory.

The Rams were led by Leskiw who went 3-for-5 out of the lead off hole, along with recording two RBIs in the contest. Schenk had a strong day as well going 2-for-3 with two runs scored for VCU. Bonney rounded out the multi-hit games for the Black and Gold as he came off the bench for a 2-for-3 performance with a run scored and two RBIs.

Six different Longhorns had multi-hit performances, led by a 4-for-5 day by Brandon Belt and a 3-for-6 day with five RBI for Torres.

The Rams and Longhorns wrap up the three-game set with a 12 p.m. CST (1 p.m. EST) contest on Sunday afternoon.

– The information above was provided by Scott Day,
VCU Assistant Director of Athletic Communications