RICHMOND, VA -- In the biggest regular season game in the recent history the University of Delaware baseball team, a team known for its offensive prowess used superior pitching to squeeze the life out of the Virginia Commonwealth offense en route to a 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association victory on Sunday afternoon at The Diamond at Richmond.

Brent Gaphardt (right) allowed only two hits over six shutout innings to earn his third win, and Mike McGuire and David Slovak shut down the Rams over four innings of relief for the Blue Hens (27-19, 16-10 CAA). Ryan Jablonski had two hits and an RBI for the Delaware offense.

VCU (31-20, 16-10 CAA) threatened in the first inning when its first two runners reached base on walks from Delaware starter Gaphardt. He then got Jared Bolden to ground into a double play and walked John Leonard to put runners on the corners with two outs, but got Chris Jackson to ground into a fielder’s choice to third to get out of the inning.

Delaware got the game’s first run in the top of the third. Ryan Engelhardt led off with a single, moved to second on a bunt by Kyle Davis and scored on a single through the middle by Jablonski.

The Hens added another run with a two-out rally in the top of the fifth. With no one on and two outs, Alex Buchholz ripped a single to centerfield to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Bryan Hagerich then followed with a double to left that scored Buchholz and gave the Hens a 2-0 advantage.

VCU mounted a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the sixth, putting runners on first and second after the first two batters of the inning were retired. However, Gaphardt got Trai Harris to fly out to leftfield to end the inning.

In the eighth the Hens threatened by getting two on with no outs, but were unable to score as Brandon Menchaca struck out after attempting to put down a bunt and VCU reliever Luke Pisker got Buchholz to fly out to left and struck out Hagerich looking.

In the bottom of the inning the Rams put runners on the corners with two outs. Jackson then flew out to Menchaca in center on the first pitch for the third out.

In the bottom of the ninth the Rams advanced a runner to second when with one out pinch-hitter Brad Bonney hit a pop fly to leftfield that Hagerich lost in the sun. McGuire then struck out Barrett Ripley for the second out and Richard Gonzalez singled to put the tying run on base. Sergio Miranda singled to right field to make it a 2-1 game and put the tying run on second base. After Miranda’s hit, David Slovak was brought on and got a dribbler to first base from Kwan Evans to end the game.

Gaphardt got the win to improve to 3-2 while VCU starter Phillip Deane took the loss to fall to 3-4. Slovak earned his 11th save.

The Hens return to action on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Rutgers.

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