AP Sports Preview

TYSONS, Va. (Interstat) — Two teams sharing the same nickname will collide Friday in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship, as the seed Rhode Island Rams face the seed VCU Rams in an afternoon elimination game at Capital One Park.

Rhode Island (25-29) enters as the tournament’s sixth seed after winning five of its final seven regular-season games. The Rams swept their three-game series at Davidson on May 8-10, taking two of three from Saint Joseph‘s and sweeping a pair of midweek road games against George Mason and Saint Joseph’s.

VCU (33-22), the tournament‘s third seed, closed the regular season by taking two of three at Saint Joseph’s and sweeping Davidson in a four-game series at home. The Rams won their final three games of the regular season, including Wednesday‘s 7-4 victory over Davidson.

Players to watch

Rhode Island outfielder Ryan King has been productive during the Rams’ late-season surge. In Thursday‘s 17-9 win at Saint Joseph’s, King went 3 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs. Over his past six games, King has homered in four contests, totaling seven home runs and 14 RBIs during that span. He is hitting .300 (9 for 30) in his last 10 games with four multi-hit performances.

VCU relief pitcher Dawson Newman has provided consistent work out of the bullpen. In Wednesday‘s win over Davidson, Newman tossed three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. Over his past four appearances, Newman has pitched 7⅔ innings, yielding one earned run while striking out 12. He has not allowed an earned run in five of his last six outings.

Series history

Rhode Island swept VCU in a three-game series April 3-4 in Kingston, Rhode Island. The Rams took the opener 5-1 on April 3, then swept a doubleheader April 4, winning 7-5 in 10 innings and 4-2. VCU’s offense struggled in the series, scoring only eight runs in three games.

Recent results

Rhode Island won its final two regular-season games, beating George Mason 19-8 on May 20 and Saint Joseph’s 17-9 on Thursday. The Rams’ pitching staff allowed 18 runs in those two wins, but the offense produced 36 runs on 29 hits.

VCU won its final three games, defeating Davidson 7-4 on Wednesday after sweeping the Wildcats 10-0, 9-7 and 12-9 on May 14-16.

First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.