Who: The VCU Rams are CAA conference mates of the Panthers and 2010 defending CAA Champions. Coach Frady is 9-3-1 against VCU and 4-2 at home, the Rams defeated GSU in the first game of the 2010 CAA tournament.
VCU at the Plate: The Rams are batting .284 as a team and scoring 5.3 runs per game. They have scored over their average only 6 times, 42 of their 100 runs have come in 3 games against Holy Cross (1) and Princeton (2). Removing those 3 games, they're averaging only 3.6 runs per game. Senior outfielder John Lenherr leads by large margin at the plate with a .419 batting average and slugging near .600. John doesn't have any home runs but he has 6 doubles and 3 triples on the year and he accounts for almost 30% of their stolen bases being 9-for-11. Hitting in the 2nd spot in the lineup, John is the guy you want to keep off base as he can get in scoring position very quickly on you. Utility man Taylor Perkins is hitting .300 and leads the team with 17 RBI's. Taylor has started every game for the Rams. VCU has not shown much power with only 3 home runs and slugging .371 as a team with three different players accounting for the home runs.
VCU on the Mound: The Rams have a team ERA of 4.26 and has been a decent squad this season. They're allowing an average of 5.8 runs per game and have allowed more than 6 runs only 4 times. Half of their 12 losses have been by 2 runs or less so their pitching staff has kept them in games. This leads me to say VCU is a better team than their 7-12 record shows. All three starters to face have good strike-to-walk numbers at or better than 3:1. Starters as follows:
Seth Cutler-Voltz (Jr., RH) will pitch on Friday. He is 1-1 with a 5.17 ERA after 5 starts. WHIP of 1.5 and batters are .312 against him. He was an innings eater in 2010 and is averaging just over 6 innings per start this season. Seth is a power fastball pitcher.
Kyle Haynes (So., RH) gets the start on Saturday. Kyle is 2-3 after 5 starts with a 3.81 ERA. Kyle has had some tough luck getting little help from the offense with 2 losses coming from scores of 1-3 and 3-4. WHIP of 1.3 and batters are hitting .267 against him. Kyle made 12 starts as a freshman and ended the season with a 5.60 ERA.
David Benson (Sr., RH) is a VCU newcomer and gets the ball on Sunday. He is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA after 4 starts and 1 relief appearance. David has 30 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched and batters are hitting .250 against him. One of his no-decisions came in a 6 inning outing against Longwood where he allowed only 3 hits, no runs, 1 walk and 9 K's. His only loss came against James Madison where he went 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs off 7 hits and 2 walks. David seems to be the most talented starter the Panthers will face.
The Rams have a steady group of relievers in the fact that none of them have had a mound meltdown this season. About half the group has given up around an inning per outing, a quarter given up more and the other quarter given up less. They can throw some good pitchers out but none have proven to be shut down pitchers so runs can be scored late. Chris Shaklee is the exception here. He has 9 appearance with 15.1 innings pitched and he's allowed 4 runs (2 earned) off 12 hits and 7 walks. He has a WHIP of near 1.3. (This brings me back to my point about Will Campbell having a very low WHIP for a starter)
GSU at the Plate: The Panthers come into the series batting .317 with most starters above the .300 mark. Over the winning streak, the team BA has raised by 45 points from .272. Brett Maxwell and Brandon Williams are over the .400 mark at .429 and .407 respectively. Ryan Fleming continues to be the home run (5) and RBI (26) leader. Most of the lineup is hot right now so they'll be a good test for VCU's pitching staff. The team is scoring 7.6 runs per game. (I'm keeping this section short going forward since it's typically covered several times per week and I repeat most of what's said here.)
GSU on the Mound:
Aidan Francis (Sr., LH) gets the start in the series opener with a 3-0 record and a 4.91 ERA. Francis has faced some high-powered offenses with success against Mercer, Georgia Tech and Murray State so I don't expect him to have many issues against VCU. He's given up 5 of the staff's 8 home runs but considering who he has faced, it's not a concern in this game given VCU's lack of power. He's pitched 25.2 innings in his 5 starts and batters are .277 against him. He has allowed 9 walks and recorded 20 strikeouts. WHIP of 1.4.
Charley Olson (Sr., RH) will oppose Kyle Haynes on Saturday. Charley is 2-2 in 4 starts with a 3.51 ERA. Charley has an almost identical stat line as Francis beyond the record and ERA. Same innings pitched 25.2, same batting average against at .277, same WHIP at 1.4 and he has 2 more strikeouts on the season with 22. His last start came against Murray State where he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs.
Justin Malone (Jr., RH) gets the series wrap-up on Sunday. He enters the game with a 4-0 record and a 3.00 ERA after 5 starts. Justin has a WHIP of 1.3 after 30 innings pitched and allowing 14 runs (10 earned) on 31 hits and 7 walks. As I said earlier, all three starters have a strike-to-walk ratio of 3:1 or better. Batters are hitting .279 against him which is virtually the same as Francis and Olson. Malone's last outing was against Murray State where he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits.
The great thing about these 3 starters (and throw in Will and Nick for that matter) is you know what to expect when each one takes the mound. They have been consistently great all season for the Panthers. I really like the pitching match-ups here as I think it gives us the best chance for a 3-game sweep. VCU has relied upon their pitching to get to the record they have but they haven't faced pitching to our caliber yet. They played James Madison close and JMU has an inferior pitching staff to GSU and the gap isn't even close. The VCU batting lineup isn't dangerous enough to worry about any one of our starters allowing more than their typical run allowance unless one just has a bad day. We likely see the best pitching from VCU and the lowest scoring game from both sides on Sunday. I have all the confidence in the world right now in our relievers so it's tough to bet against us for a sweep unless the Panther offense falls out of their hitting streak (knocking on wood).
It looks like rain could be around Saturday and Sunday so let's hope that it stays away long enough to let us move to 6-0 in the CAA. GO PANTHERS!!!
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