Lexington, Va. -- Sophomore Matt Smith (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) smacked a single down the right field line in the bottom of the tenth inning, scoring freshman Brandon Massenburg (Prince George, Va. / Prince George), to give the VMI Keydets a 6-5 win over the College of Charleston Cougars on Sunday at Patchin Field.
With the win, VMI (20-24, 14-12 SoCon) qualified for the Southern Conference tournament for the first time since 1999 and set a school record for most conference wins in a season with 14.
The Keydets jumped on the board in the bottom of the first when senior Ben Rand (South Boston, Va. / VCU) scored on a grounder from senior Justin Briggs (Rustburg, Va. / Rustburg) that the Cougars turned into a double play, giving VMI a 1-0 lead.
College of Charleston (28-23, 15-11 SoCon) answered in the top of the third on a RBI grounder from sophomore Anthony Fairchild to score Jay McCown. The Cougars took the lead one batter later when sophomore Brett Gardner hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Brett Anderson. The lead grew in the top of the fifth as McCown nailed a solo homer to center field for a 3-1 College of Charleston advantage.
The Keydets answered in the bottom of the seventh as senior Andy Barden (Chesterfield, Va. / Manchester) singled to left field to score Rand. Two batters later, freshman Kelly Sweppenhiser (Herndon, Pa. / Line Mountain) scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 3-3. On the next play, VMI took the lead when Briggs and Barden trotted home on a Cougar error to make the score 5-3.
College of Charleston cut the lead in half, 5-4, in the top of the eighth on a solo homer to right-center field from senior Lee Curtis. The Cougars tied the contest in the ninth on a two-out single to left field from Curtis to score Anderson.
College of Charleston threatened in the top of the tenth when freshman Matt Kirkpatrick singled to right field and advanced to third on a VMI error with one out. But sophomore Jeff DeMara (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) closed the door by getting Davy Cheek out on a grounder to third base and striking out Anderson to keep the game knotted at 5-5.
Freshman Allan Wimmer (Vienna, Va. / James Madison) led off the bottom of the tenth with a double down the right field line. Massenburg came into the game as a pinch runner for Wimmer. Massenburg later advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Jon Wade (Marietta, Ga. / Harrison) before Smith's heroics ended the game.
On the mound, DeMara pitched two innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run to pick up the win. Senior Phil Hendrix (Richmond, Va. / West Iredell, N.C.) pitched the first eight innings for the Keydets, allowing 12 hits and four runs while striking out four batters. Tee Morris was given the loss for the Cougars.
"That was a great finish," said VMI head coach Tom Slater. "Matt Smith really came through with the big hit after Wimmer's double and Wade's great sacrifice bunt. The kids played hard all day. When you pitch well, you'll have a lot more opportunities to win games. Hendrix and DeMara both pitched extremely well.
"We're really excited to qualify for the conference tournament for the first time since 1999 and set a school record for the most conference wins," continued Slater. "Hopefully we'll come out tomorrow and win another series."
VMI and College of Charleston will face each other in the third game of the series on Monday at Patchin Field. The opening pitch is set for 1 p.m.
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