RICHMOND, Va. –  The Lafayette baseball team took a 2-1 lead into the home half of the sixth, but VCU put crooked numbers on the board in its next two chances to take game one of the series, 6-3, on Friday afternoon at The Diamond.
 
The Rams (9-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, knocking freshman starting pitcher Ethan O'Connor out of the game. He went just 3.2 innings, striking out two and allowing only one hit and one run.
 
The Leopards (3-7) answered in the sixth when freshman Justin Johnson doubled to lead off the inning and eventually scored when sophomore Trey Durrah reached on an error, following a junior Mark Glover walk. Sophomore Colin Hartey was the next man up and he singled to score Glover to take a 2-1 lead.
 
VCU came right back to score a pair in the home half of the sixth and never surrendered the lead, scoring three more in the seventh.
 
Lafayette was able to plate one more run in the eighth when Hartey was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on the sophomore Bill Russo base hit to left field.
 
Russo was 2-for-4 with an RBI on the day and senior Spencer Rouse also put together a 2-for-4 outing. \
 
The Leopards and the Rams square off again in game two of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the series finale set for Sunday at 1 p.m.

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