THE LEAD
A five run fourth inning by Virginia Commonwealth broke open a scoreless affair and handed Dallas Baptist a 7-2 loss in their first game of the Dallas Regional.  Hosting a regional tournament game at Horner Ballpark for the first time in school history, DBU (43-14) fell behind 5-0 and could never recover, as the Patriots slip into the losers bracket where they will face Texas on Saturday at 11:00 am.
 
VCU (38-22) starter, JoJo Howie, kept the Patriot offensive attack off-balance throughout the night, as the senior lefty worked six and two-third innings, allowing just two runs, while striking out four.  As for DBU starter, Joseph Shaw, the hard-throwing righty allowed a career-high six runs before being lifted in the fifth inning with two outs.
 
A one out, two-run single by Brett Hileman broke open the scoring for the Rams in the fourth inning.  One batter later, Jimmy Kerrigan laced a double to plate the third run of the inning.  After a fielder choice off the bat of James Bunn scored another run, Kerrigan came home to score the fifth run on a wild pitch.

Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Drew Turbin and Camden Duzenack started the inning with back-to-back bunt singles, which were the first hits of the night off of Howie.  With two outs and runners at first and second, Trooper Reynolds roped a double down the line in left, scoring Turbin and putting DBU on the board.
 
In the fifth, the Rams and Patriots exchanged runs with VCU scoring on an RBI single from Vima Machin and the Patriots responding with a solo home run to start the inning by David Martinelli.  The round-tripper was Martinelli's tenth of the season and ties him with Justin Wall for the team lead.
 
After Chance Adams silenced the VCU offense over the next two innings, Dalton Higgins walked the lead-off man in the eighth and then a throwing error on a pick-off move put an insurance run in scoring position.  With one out and a runner at second, Daane Berezo collected his third hit of the night on a single to right, extending the Rams lead to 7-2.
 
In the eighth and ninth innings, VCU relievers Matt Lees and Daniel Concepcion closed the doors on the Patriots, completing the upset of the No. 1 seed in the Dallas Regional.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, DAN HEEFNER – ON THE POSSIBLE DISTRACTION OF HOSTING THEIR FIRST REGIONAL
"It was something we were trying to guard against this week, but you cannot shelter it completely. There is more attention and I believe the guys really wanted to perform well to kind of just validate that they deserve to have this and everything. However, I did not see anything in the game that demonstrated nervousness. We just did not make the adjustments on the slower lefty and with the approach and our timing."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 – VCU's Daane Berezo and Brett Hileman each had three hits on the night.
6 – Of the seven outs recorded by Chance Adams, six were by strikeout.
3 – VCU leads the nation in batters hit-by-pitch and tonight three hitters in the Rams' lineup were hit by a pitch.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU faces Texas in an elimination game on Saturday at Horner Ballpark.  First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.