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Winthrop Hangs On to 2-1 Win Over VMI Baseball

LEXINGTON, Va. ? VMI (22-22, 4-11 BSC) starter Duke Acors (Richmond, Va. / Atlee) (2-7) and Winthrop University (24-16, 11-4 BSC) starter Mike Honce (2-7) locked up in a pitchers duel Sunday afternoon as both hurlers were outstanding and threw well enough to win, as the Eagles held on and defeated the Keydets 2-1 in a Big South Conference contest at Patchin Field.

Third baseman David Scoggin's second inning solo home run (11) and second baseman Chris Carrara's RBI single in the third was all Winthrop could get off of Acors, but it was enough as VMI failed to get the big hit in a game where they left eight runners on base.

“Duke Acors pitched us into a position to win. He pitched his heart out,” VMI head baseball coach Marlin Ikenberry said. “We played extremely hard today. We just didn't get the big hit.”

Trailing 2-1 after seven innings, the Keydets had two runners in scoring position in the eighth and one in scoring position in the ninth but could not capitalize.

VMI's one run came in the seventh inning when designated hitter Kelly Sweppenhiser (Herndon, Pa. / Line Mountain) led off the frame with a double and eventually came around to score on centerfielder Brandon Massenburg's (Prince George, Va. / Prince George) sacrifice fly.

Acors allowed just one earned run and six hits in 7.2 innings, as he suffered the loss. Honce also allowed just an earned run and seven hits in 7.0 innings of work to pick up the win.

Honce also was extremely effective in his last outing, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings against Charleston Southern to earn the win.

VMI dropped two of three games against Winthrop this weekend.

For the series, Keydet shortstop Matt Smith (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) went 4-for-11 with a double, a triple and three RBI's.

Scoggin collected two homers and a double for the Eagles this weekend, overall going 6-for-13 with three RBI's. Shortstop Matt Repec's 19 game hitting streak was stopped by VMI Sunday.

VMI travels to Blacksburg on Wednesday to face Virginia Tech and then open a three game conference series with Charleston Southern at Patchin Field beginning on Friday.

-VMI-
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