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Harper two-hits Mountaineers in 11-1 Keydet baseball win

BOONE, N.C -Right hander Jeremy Harper pitched eight innings of two-hit baseball to lead VMI to an 11-1 victory and a Southern Conference series sweep at Appalachian State
University.

Harper, who was perfect against the home team's bats for the first four innings, struck out 11 batters en route to his third win of the season.

VMI (19-23, 13-11 SoCon) got all of the offense it would need in the top of the first inning, when leadoff man Brandon Massenburg walked and Kelly Sweppenhiser followed with a single up the middle. Massenburg scored on an errant throw and Elliott Erbe's RBI single through the right side plated Sweppenhiser to make it 2-0. With the bases full and one out, Jon Wade was hit by pitched, forcing Justin Briggs home from third base. Jason Annis' single to right-center field scored Erbe to stretch the lead to 4-0.

The Keydets padded their lead to 5-0 in the third inning when Annis notched a sacrifice fly to score Erbe. Erbe opened the inning with a single throu=
gh the right side and moved to third on Wade's single. Erbe kept his hot bat alive in the fifth
inning by pulling a solo home run to right field to make the advantage 6-0.

Starting pitcher Scott Clark, who won each of his last two decisions for the Mountaineers, allowed six runs on seven hits, while striking out six over five innings. David Batten gave up four runs on two hits in one inning of relief. Monty Fast worked a scoreless seventh inning, giving up just one hit. Steve Martin followed by Steve Martin, who gave up one run on two hit=
s in the eighth.

Harper worked easily through the Appalachian lineup early on, striking out the first five batters he faced. The 6-2, senior faced his first bit of adversity when he walked Eric Pittman and Tim Johnson to start the bottom of the fifth. With none out, and two on, Derek Smith registered a double down the left field line to spoilHarper's no-hit bid. The VMI hurler then retired the next three batters, two by virtue of strikeout to get out of the jam.

VMI stretched its lead to 10-1 with four more runs in the top half of the seventh. Allan Wimmer's double to left-center field brought home Sweppenhiser, who started the in
ning with a walk. Briggs single to right field quickly plated Wimmer to give VMI an 8-1 lead=
.Two batters later, Andy Barden rapped a single up the middle that brought home both Briggs and Erbe to put the unfriendly guest in front 10-1.

Harper returned to form by sending the Mountaineers down in order in the sixth and seventh. Ben Marsh led off the eighth with a double to right-center field and moved to third on Ty Racette's fly out. Harper helped his cause by knocking down a hard hit ball by Justin Thomas, but drew Wade off of first base with his throw. Thomas found himself picked off during Clint Johns's at-bat. Johns struck out swinging to end the Apps' threat.

With one out in the eighth, Sweppenhiser singled to center field and advanced to second on Martin's wild pitch. Wimmer followed with hit that allowed Sweppenhiser to score and make it a 10-run deficit.

With Appalachian unable to trim the margin in the bottom half of the eighth, the game was stopped due to the SoCon's 10-run rule. The win marked the first VMI three-game sweep of Appalachian in history.

VMI's Erbe finished the afternoon 3-for-3, with four runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Sweppenhiser also recorded three hits, and scored three runs. Wimmer went 2-for-4, with two RBIs and a run scored.

With final exams underway, Appalachian does not return to action until traveling to Western Carolina for a rare Sunday - Monday three-game league series on May 11 and 12. VMI is back in action on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday when it hosts College of Charleston for its next SoCon set. (Story courtesy Appalachian Sports Information)
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