TYSONS, VA. -- Rhode Island delivered its biggest swings at the perfect time Friday afternoon, using a three-run sixth inning to rally past VCU, 5-4, and reach the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship final for the second consecutive year at Capital One Park.

Locked in a tight battle through the middle innings, the Rams erased a one-run deficit with back-to-back power swings in the sixth and then leaned on reliever Joe Sabbath to close out the win. Rhode Island (26-29) finished with seven hits, including home runs from Jack Hopko and Danny Leikus.

VCU (34-23) struck first in the third inning. Trent Adelman singled before Dante DeFranco ripped an RBI double down the right-field line. Teige Lethert followed with a run-scoring double to deep left, giving the Rams a 2-0 lead.

Rhode Island answered in the fourth. Reece Moroney singled up the middle and scored on Hopko’s RBI double into the right-field corner. Two batters later, Leikus lined an RBI single to left-center to tie the game at 2-2.

The game remained deadlocked until the sixth, when VCU reclaimed the lead on Nate Kirkpatrick’s solo homer to deep left field, his ninth home run of the season.
But the advantage lasted only half an inning.

Leading off the bottom half, Hopko hammered a game-tying solo shot to right-center field, his 19th homer of the year. After Ryan King singled and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, Leikus delivered a towering two-run homer to left that pushed Rhode Island in front 5-3.

VCU threatened late after Michael Petite doubled down the right-field line in the ninth inning. Petite eventually scored on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to one, but Sabbath retired Nick Flores on a fly ball to center field to end the game and secure the comeback victory.

Sabbath (4-5) earned the win in relief, allowing just one run on three hits over 3 2/3 innings while striking out five. Starter Evan Maloney worked 5 1/3 innings, surrendering three runs on six hits with four strikeouts.

VCU starter Cooper Campbell (3-2) took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Hunter Gotschall gave the Rams 2 2/3 innings of relief and allowed one run while striking out three.

Hopko paced Rhode Island offensively, finishing 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Leikus matched him with a 2-for-4 day that included a homer and three RBIs. Moroney also added two hits and scored once.

For VCU, DeFranco went 1-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored, while Lethert finished 2-for-5 with an RBI double. Kirkpatrick’s solo homer accounted for VCU’s lone extra-base hit after the third inning. VCU stranded 10 runners across the nine innings.

Despite outhitting Rhode Island 9-7, VCU went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and could not overcome Rhode Island’s timely power surge in the sixth.