DAVIDSON, N.C. – Sparked by an early Tyler Locklear round-tripper along with six total unanswered runs, second-seeded VCU (38-18, 19-5 A-10) extended the program's win streak out to 13 games in the Rams' Second Round battle against No. 6 Saint Joseph's (29-24, 12-11 A-10) the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship, eclipsing the Hawks by a final 8-4 mark late Wednesday afternoon at Wilson Field.

With the win, the Rams proceed to Friday's early-afternoon semifinal within in the winner's bracket, squaring off against top-seeded Davidson for rights to the first spot in the Championship Final. Meanwhile, Saint Joseph's faces its first setback of the tournament, organizing a rematch with third-seeded Saint Louis in the consolation bracket on Thursday morning. Both contests will be broadcast live via ESPN+.

On just the sixth pitch of the contest, Locklear opted to send one into orbit as the redshirt sophomore blasted a solo homer directly over the center-field fence. The Rams' offensive prowess continued in the fourth, as a Logan Amiss RBI single combined with a Connor Hujsak two-run shot over the left-field wall added three more for VCU.

An RBI walk and RBI hit-by-pitch by Ben Nippolt and Locklear, respectively, closed out the fourth with another two scores, completing a 6-0 surge for the Rams.

For Saint Joseph's in the sixth, Nate Thomas jacked a solo dinger of his own to neutralize a potential shutout; a Luca Trigiani RBI double down the left-field line just an inning later closed the Hawks' deficit down to four.

Nippolt erased the SJU progress in the eighth, lauching a two-run bomb over the right-field fence. St. Joe's attempted to put together a rally in the eighth, notching one run on an RBI groundout and a final score via a wild pitch.