RICHMOND, VA -- Senior righthanded pitcher Chad Kerfoot (right) allowed one run and struck out five in eight innings and David Slovak earned his 10th save as the University of Delaware bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday afternoon at The Diamond in Richmond.

The win, coupled with a loss earlier in the day by Northeastern, clinched a spot for the Hens in the CAA championship tournament held later this month in Wilmington, NC.

For the second straight day, the Hens put runners on the corners in the first and scored a run on an unusual play. With a 3-1 count on Bryan Hagerich, Alex Buchholz, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 17 games, took off from first. The pitch was ball four to Hagerich, but VCU catcher Carlos Rodriguez threw down to second anyway. Ryan Jablonski broke for home and scored easily to give the Hens a 1-0 lead.

The Rams tied the game at one in the bottom of the fourth. Jared Bolden slapped a single through the middle on an 0-2 pitch, stole second and scored on a double by Barrett Ripley.

VCU threatened in the bottom of the fifth when Sergio Miranda doubled with two outs. Kwan Evans hit a ball that looked like it would find the gap in left-center, but Hagerich made a nice sliding catch across the the rain-soaked outfield to end the inning.

Eppley settled in and did not allow a hit the rest of his stay in the game. With two on and no outs, Eppley was lifted for Bill Weiland, Friday night’s winner. Hagerich greeted him with a flare to center that loaded the bases with no one out. Wieland then induced a ground ball double play from Adam Tsakonas that brought in the go-ahead run but provided a path out of the inning. With a runner on third and two outs, Bill Merkler flew out to right to end the inning, and the Hens scored only once out of their threat.

In the top of the eighth, Hagerich was hit by a pitch with two outs and then stole second. Tsakonas hit a screamer to the left side, but third baseman Chris Jackson made a diving stop and was able to get to his feet and make the throw in time to get Tsakonas by a step and end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Rams had no runners on and two outs when Evans singled to left. Taking a hard turn around first, Evans drew a throw from Buchholz, and Buchholz airmailed the throw into the Blue Hen dugout on the first-base side, and Evans moved all the way around to third base. With the tying run on third and two outs, Kerfoot picked up his teammate by striking out Bolden to end the inning.

The Hens added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Merkler doubled to left and his pinch-runner Scott Shockley came around to score when Kyle Davis ripped a double to left off Ram closer Luke Pisker.

After allowing a leadoff double to Barrett Ripley, Kerfoot was replaced by David Slovak, who retired all three batters he faced for his 10th save. With his appearance, Slovak set a new single-season record for appearances in a season with 28.

The Hens and Rams wrap up their series tomorrow at 1 p.m.

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