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VMI Baseball Squeaks Past Furman in 11 innings, 4-3

Lexington, Va. -- VMI senior Jason Annis (Placentia, Calif. / Valencia) doubled down the left field line, bringing home freshman B.T. Good (Vienna, Va. / James Madison), to give the Keydets a dramatic win over the Furman Paladins, 4-3, in 11 innings on Sunday at Patchin Field.

After four scoreless innings from VMI's Jeremy Harper (Seneca Rocks, W.Va. / Pendleton County) and Furman's Kyle Funk, the Paladins (10-11, 3-6 SoCon) jumped on the board in the top of the fifth inning when Drew Latora and Nick Wajda scored on an error by Keydet sophomore Jon Wade (Marietta, Ga. / Harrison) to take a 2-0 lead.

VMI (9-12, 6-3 SoCon) answered in the bottom of the fifth on a single from sophomore Elliott Erbe (Portsmouth, Va. / Western Branch), scoring senior Justin Briggs (Rustburg, Va. / Rustburg), to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Furman added a run in the top of the eighth on a Wajda single to center field, bringing home Case Cassedy, to increase the advantage to 3-1.

The Keydets responded in the bottom of the eighth when freshman Allan Wimmer (Vienna, Va. / James Madison) smacked a single to left field to score Wade. Freshman Brandon Massenburg (Prince George, Va. / Prince George) then tied the game at 3-3 when he raced home on a wild pitch from the Paladins' David Mitchell.

On the mound, sophomore Jeff DeMara (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) pitched the final two innings, giving up no runs on one hit with a strikeout, to earn the win. Mitchell was given the loss.

"We've been in a lot of one-run games already this year," stated VMI head coach Tom Slater. "We got some great pitching performances today. Jeremy Harper gave us seven good innings, Jimmy Thoms pitched well when he was in and Jeff DeMara was great at the end. We need to get a little better with our situational hitting. I feel that we could have had a few more runs. It was a great series against a good team, and the kids feel really good about themselves right now."

VMI will host William and Mary on Wednesday at Patchin Field. The opening pitch is set for 2 p.m.
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