Lexington, Va. -- Senior Jason Annis (Placentia, Calif. / Valencia) smashed a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the VMI Keydets to a 7-5 win over the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Sunday at Patchin Field.

The Spartans (22-9, 7-5 SoCon) jumped on the board first in the top of the third when Jason Sarvis smacked a single down the left field line, scoring David Adams. Two batters later, Ryan Gordon nailed a pitch from VMI senior Jeremy Harper (Seneca Rocks, W.Va. / Pendleton County) over the right-center field wall for a two-run homer, bringing Adams into score and giving UNC Greensboro a 3-0 lead.

The Keydets (12-17, 8-7 SoCon) responded in bottom of the third when freshman Brandon Massenburg (Prince George, Va. / Prince George) singled down the left field line, scoring senior Ben Rand (South Boston, Va. / VCU). A couple batters later, senior Justin Briggs (Rustburg, Va. / Rustburg) hammered an offering from Gordon to left field for a three-run homerun, giving VMI a 4-3 lead after three innings.

The score remained the same until the top of the seventh when UNC Greensboro's Justin Saltalamacchia crushed a pitch from Keydet sophomore Jimmy Thoms (Newport News, Va. / Denbigh) to left field for a solo homer. Later in the inning, Ryan Galligan tripled down the right field line, scoring Kirk Strebin, to take 5-4 advantage.

Massenburg singled and senior Andy Barden (Chesterfield, Va. / Manchester) drew a two-out walk before Annis doubled to right-center field to give VMI a 6-5 lead. The Keydets added their final run in the eighth inning on a single to left-center field by sophomore Matt Smith (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge), scoring sophomore Chris Brooks (Shepherdstown, W.Va. / Jefferson), to make the score 7-5.

On the mound, sophomore Jeff DeMara (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) pitched two and one third innings, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out one batter, to get the win. Harper pitched the first four innings for the Keydets, striking out three batters while allowing three unearned runs, before leaving the game after being struck in the shin on a ball by Saltalamacchia in the top of the fifth. Spartan pitcher Jarrett Santos was given the loss.

"It was a really well-played college baseball game by both teams," stated VMI head coach Tom Slater. "I thought that we got some really good pitching today. Jeremy Harper had a really good start. Jimmy Thoms did a great job when he came in after Harper was hit on the shin, and Jeff DeMara came in and closed the door for us. Our hitters also did a great job to manufacture some runs off Ryan Gordon. It's good to be a game above .500 in the Southern Conference midway through the conference season."

VMI will travel to Old Dominion on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game. UNC Greensboro will host Elon on Wednesday in a 6 p.m. contest.