VCU Rams

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WILMINGTON, Del. - Up until this year, the mound at Frawley Stadium hadn’t seen great pitching since a burlesque right-hander from Brandywine High School pitched his team into the State Finals in 2001. Enter former VCU hurler Harold Mozingo who is on his road to recovery after Tommy John surgery with the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Harold was a stud for the Black & Gold. So much so there is a moniker over at the “Nation” that reads “mozingowasfilthy”…  That’s pretty impressive. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2006 MLB Draft, but ran into some arm injuries that has thrown some speed bumps in his way.

I met Harold once after his first full year in the minors and he still remains one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met during my five years at VCU, so I’m really looking forward to catching up with him. I’ll be providing some video and a live blog during the Blue Rocks game tonight against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

By the way, that burlesque right-hander was none other than yours truly, Scott Day. Look it up. I’ll sign autographs at any athletic event this coming year if you want.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Alright, we here at the RamBlog are going to act like yesterday didn’t happen and just say that we’re in a single elimination regional starting with a 1 p.m. showdown with the St. John’s Red Storm. As of 11:30 p.m. last night, the starter  for the Black & Gold had not been determined, just narrowed down to “One of three freshmen” as Coach Keyes put it in the post game presser yesterday.

This is actually the second straight NCAA Regional trip that the Rams have met St. John’s in this situation with the Red Storm getting a walk-off jack Chris Anninos in 2007 to beat VCU 5-4 and stay alive in the Myrtle Beach Regional. I know I saw several guys from 2007 posting messages on some website called Facebook.com about getting revenge on the Johnnies for that game, so the four seniors on today’s team will have to relay that message.

I know it’s probably tough for us down here in Virginia to believe that people from the “northern states” can play baseball, but let’s get serious, St. Johns is 40-19 on the year and won the Big East with teams like Connecticut (top-16 seed) and Louisville (top-25 squad) in the conference. Yesterday the Johnnies got a dose of the best pitcher in college baseball, Drew Pomeranz (top-5 pick in the MLB draft next), but battled back to make it a close 10-5 loss.

JVM as we have begun to know him notched two RBIs yesterday to tie Jason Dubois’ single-season record of 74 RBI, set in 2000, and will once again look to be the leader of the resilient Rams today. Richard Gonzalez also had two hits, but it’s going to be guys like Taylor Perkins, Doug Otto and Paul Nice at the bottom half of the VCU lineup that will make the difference.

As far as the mound situation, let’s be honest, it’s going to take one of the freshmen to really step up, which all three are very capable of. Ryan Farrar, Kyle Haynes and Blake Hauser have all showed flashes of being really good, but they have also shown flashes of being very young at times, so if you can maybe get four innings out of one of them, two out of another, then turn it over to the pen… you’re definitely going to have a chance.

Coach Keyes talked about how important this game is to the program to give this group of guys a chance to taste winning in the postseason and I think it can be done. They can’t make too many mistake or this Red Storm team will jump on them, but the chance is there for the Rams to move onto Sunday.

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With most college students having enjoyed at least three weeks of summer already, the VCU baseball decided to make their time with each other last as long as possible, rolling to the CAA Championship last weekend and earning a berth in the NCAA Regionals. The Selection Committee was oh so kind and sent the Rams an hour up I-64 West to take on Baseball America’s top-ranked team and the fifth overall seed in the UVA Cavaliers.

Junior Joe Van Meter called it somewhat of a “David and Goliath” match-up (hence the picture on the right), and you can’t really argue with that. UVA is 47-11 on the year and 30-4 (not too shabby if I do say so myself) in the comforts of Davenport Field. The Rams are 17-11 away from The Diamond.

Exactly a month ago, these two teams squared off in a mid-week non-conference showdown which the Wahooooos won 10-5, but mid-week games are really like exhibition games when it comes to May college baseball. Just another chance to get some swings and live game activity.

This time around, our “Bulldog” Seth Cutler-Voltz will be on the bump with the daunting task of taking on a Cavalier offense that is hitting .333 as a team and is scoring over eight runs a game. I pitched in college, so I feel confident in my knowledge of the game and I still have no idea how Seth gets it done. The dude is unbelievable and I won’t doubt him at all when it comes to a game of this stature.

On the offensive side, you have good ole JVM as we refer to him. When you’re hitting .540 (yes, you read that right) in the last 30 games,you get people trying to come up with cool nicknames and for right now, I like JVM. Richie Gonzalez is a guy that seems to be always over looked, but he is a constant catalyst for this offense. If the Rams have a chance today, both of these guys really need to have big days.

For UVA, well, let’s just say there isn’t an easy out in the lineup. The team does what it takes to win and everyone in the lineup has postseason experience with the starting position players totaling 119 NCAA Tournament games. On the hill today is the Wahoos’ third starter Cody Winiarski, who is a perfect 5-0 with an 4.39 ERA.

Now that I’ve written an encyclopedia about today’s game, I’ll let you stew over all the information and sit with high anticipation waiting for my in-game blog. Go Rams!

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Junior Joe Van Meter hit a bases-clearing triple with two outs in the top of the eighth and sophomore Seth Cutler-Voltz tossed his league-leading fifth complete game as VCU defeated Georgia State, 7-4, Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the CAA Tournament.

Today, the third-seeded Rams face #1 James Madison at 3:30 p.m. with a spot in tomorrow’s championship game on the line.  The Rams and Dukes square off for the fourth time in in the last week as VCU concluded its regular season schedule against James Madison May 21-22. The Black & Gold took game one behind the arm of Cutler-Voltz but the Dukes rebounded and won the final two for the series victory and regular season title.

VCU continues its quest for the program’s fifth CAA title in its last seven trips to the event and 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.  The Rams have qualified for the CAA Tournament in 13 of the past 15 seasons since joining the league in 1996.  Despite its 11-1 start to conference play, VCU has struggled against the trio of CAA Tournament teams this season, finishing 2-6-1 against top-seeded James Madison, Georgia State and No. 4 seed/host UNC Wilmington.  However, the Rams will look to go 2-0 in the postseason when they face the Dukes today.

Should VCU defeat James Madison, it would advance to the championship game tomorrow at 1 p.m. and would have to lose two games to the winner of the loser’s bracket.  If the Rams fall against the Dukes, they would play the Georgia State/UNC Wilmington winner tonight at 7 p.m. with another chance to advance to the championship game.

Stay tuned…