NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – VCU won the Atlantic 10 Baseball Regular Season, finishing with a 13-3 (.813) record in league play and will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming 2021 A-10 Baseball Championship. The Rams will also serve as host for the championship, which begins Thursday at The Diamond.
Dayton, Rhode Island and Saint Joseph’s all won games during the final weekend of the regular season to clinch berths into the four-team, double elimination championship.
VCU finished the season ranked in the collegiate baseball poll with a 34-13 overall record. The Rams were led by Tyler Locklear’s .343 batting average and 59 hits, 16 home runs and 61 RBI. Liam Hibbits added 55 hits and 55 RBI with a .33 average. Bradford Webb and Mason Delane were VCU’s regular starters on the mound, with 17 starts between them.
VCU will open the championship against No. 4 Saint Joseph’s Thursday at noon. The Hawks finished the season 15-9 in conference play and were 21-17 overall. SJU won five straight to close the regular season, including four straight over La Salle, to force a tie in winning percentage (.625). Saint Joseph’s won the tiebreaker due to head-to-head results. The Hawks were led by Brendan Hueth with a .382 batting average and a team-high 52 hits. Ian McCole led SJU with nine starts on the mound posting a team-high 54 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched, also a team high.
Second-seeded Dayton finished league play at 12-4, with a 22-25 overall record. The Flyers won four straight against George Washington over the final weekend of the regular season to secure the championship spot. Marcos Pujols leads UD at the plate with a .366 average, 63 hits and 11 home runs. Mariano Ricciardi batted .359 with a team-high 65 hits and 37 walks. Hunter Wolfe led the Flyer starting pitchers with 12 starts, throwing 70.1 innings with 86 strikeouts
Dayton will face third-seeded Rhode Island beginning Thursday at 3:30 pm. Rhody was 14-6 (.700) in conference and 27-24-1 overall, and closed the season with four straight wins. Sonny Ulliana paces the Rams with a .329 batting average, and 17 doubles. Austin White’s 54 hits and 31 walks are team highs as well. Mike Webb and Ryan Twitchell each have 13 starts for URI and have 63 and 52 strikeouts respectively, both team highs.
The winners of the two first round games will advance to meet in the semifinals, which will be played Friday, May 28 at noon. The two losing teams from the first round will play in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday at 7:00 pm. The winner of that game will face the loser of the winner’s bracket semifinal. The championship game will be played at noon on Saturday, May 29.
The championship will be open to spectators, with appropriate social distancing pursuant to stadium, VCU and City of Richmond regulations. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling the VCU ticket office at 804-828-RAMS or by clicking here. Tickets are general admission but there will be seating pods throughout the stadium to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Each ticket grants access into ALL games on that day. All tickets will be delivered to the purchaser’s mobile device 24 hours prior to the first game.
All games of the A-10 Baseball Championship will be aired on ESPN+. For watch links, result, photos and more visit Baseball Championship Central at atlantic10.com.
