LEXINGTON, Va.- Senior right fielder Elliott Erbe collected his third hit of the day when it mattered most, a single through the right side of the infield with a runner on third base in a tied ballgame to cap a four-run ninth inning comeback by VMI, as the Keydets won 9-8 over Longwood on another beautiful Sunday afternoon at Patchin Field. The win by VMI completed a weekend sweep of Longwood and improved the Keydets to to 17-17 while the Lancers fell to 11-22 with the loss.

Trailing 8-5 headed to the bottom of the ninth inning, a pair of singles and a hit batsman brought home the first run, followed by a two-run double by sophomore Jacoby Fields (Prince George, Va./Prince George), who entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter. Fields then moved to third base on a flyout to centerfield before Erbe (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) brought him home on a 1-2 count, giving VMI their fourth consecutive win.

"I can't say enough about Elliott's at bat for us there in the ninth inning," said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. "He did a nice job to get that hit for us when we needed it. I was real proud of our intensity and our focus today, our guys were composed and battled hard all day."

Senior starter Duke Acors (Richmond, Va./Atlee) went six innings for VMI, and settled down after giving up a six-spot in the second inning. In his first start in two weeks, Acors gave up six earned runs on seven hits in the second, however, gave up only one hit in his other five innings, a leadoff single in the third inning.

"I thought Duke did a nice job of staying composed after getting hit in the second inning," said Ikenberry. "He had good command of his pitches coming off of his groin injury, which was good to see. He got hit early, but settled down after that, and after we put up four runs in the fourth, he bared down and put up some more zeroes for us."

After senior reliever Josh Owens (Sandston, Va./Benedictine) started the seventh inning, recording only one out while putting runners on the corners for Longwood, senior closer Jeff DeMara (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) came on to get out of the jam and picked up the win, improving to 4-2 on the season, despite giving up a pair of runs in the ninth.

"Jeff did a great job of getting a groundball double play to get us out of the seventh inning," said Ikenberry. "He gave up two runs in the ninth on a little texas-leaguer just over the second baseman's head, but he did a good job of limiting them to only get those two, giving us a chance to come in and win it in the ninth."

For the third straight contest, Longwood jumped on top early, however, this time with their biggest inning of the weekend, going up 6-0 in the second inning. A leadoff home run for Charlie Yarbrough set the tone for Longwood, as back-to-back doubles by Corey Huemmer and Matt Duval brought the score to 3-0. A sacrifice fly by Chris Balus gave the Lancers a 4-0 lead, then back-to-back RBI hits by Tyler Ames and Tyler Childress wrapped up the scoring in the top of the second frame.

The Keydets responded in the fourth inning, getting on the board when Klint Reed, a late entry in the starting lineup, worked deep into the count and hit his third home run of the season to left field off of a 2-2 count, bringing home Matt Smith. Two batters later, Erbe sent the second pitch he saw beyond the right field fence, cutting the Lancer advantage to 6-3. VMI then manufactured their final run of the inning, as Robert Crumpler singled to left field, then advanced to second base on a passed ball. He then moved to third base on a base hit by Thane Smith and scored on a sacrifice fly by B.T. Good to centerfield.

VMI pulled closer in the seventh, however, left a pair of base-runners in the inning that could have come back to haunt them. Following a leadoff walk issued by Longwood reliever Brian McCullough to Good, Stephen Parsons reached on an infield single. After Chad Rice moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt, Matt Smith brought home Good with a groundout to shortstop. Fields then pinch-hit for Reed and was hit with the first pitch he saw, putting runners on first and second base with two outs for Kelly Sweppenhiser. However, the junior third baseman could not make McCullough pay, striking out to end the rally.

After DeMara sat the Lancers down 1-2-3 in the eighth inning, Erbe drew a four-pitch leadoff walk, however, made a baserunning mistake when he was caught in between first and second base on a pickoff move and was tagged out as he represented the game's tying run. The Keydets could mount nothing more in the inning, setting the stage for the ninth.

DeMara issued a leadoff walk to Duval in the ninth, then failed to get Duval at second base on a sacrifice bunt by Nick von Gersdorff. Balus then sacrificed Duval and von Gersdorff over a base, after which Ames was issued an intentional walk, loading the bases for Childress. He responded with a bloop hit to right field that scored a pair of runs before Yarbrough fouled out to the first baseman to end the inning.

With the home team trailing by three runs, Good got things going with a single through the left side of the infield, then Parsons was hit with McCullough's next pitch. After a flyout by pinch hitter Will Smith, Matt Smith brought home Good with an RBI single that was misplayed by the left fielder as he attempted to grab the ball, allowing both Parsons and Matt Smith an extra base. Fields then delivered with his fourth double of the season and Erbe followed with the game-winner.

McCullough took the loss for Longwood, going to 3-3 on the season, allowing five runs on five hits in 2.2 innings of work. John Farrell started for the Lancers and gave up four runs, three earned on five hits in five full innings, while Sean Quinn worked the sixth inning, allowing only one hit.

Erbe led the way offensively for VMI, going 3-for-4 with a home run and a pair of RBI, while Matt Smith went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Six other Keydets recorded single hits in the contest, while seven different players scored runs.

Longwood was led offensively by their third and fourth hitters, Childress and Yarbrough, who each went 2-for-4 on the day. Childress had three RBI, while Duval had a pair of RBI and was one of six Lancers who had a single hit.

The Keydets now kick off their longest road stretch of the season, playing the first of nine consecutive road games Tuesday night, when they travel to Petersburg to take on VCU at 7 p.m. at the Petersburg Sports Complex.

GAME NOTES
* With Sunday's win, VMI now stands 6-8 in one-run games, 12-6 in games that they hit a home run in, and 14-1 when they score at least six runs. The Keydets have now hit at least one home run in six of their last seven games.

* This weekend's sweep of Longwood is the Keydets' second weekend sweep of the year, as they took three games from Coppin State on Feb. 26-27.

* VMI now stands 7-1 in games played against teams from Virginia this season.

* Sunday's comeback is VMI's first win when trailing after eight innings this season, and Elliott Erbe's single was the team's first walk-off hit of the year.

* The Keydets are currently on a four-game win streak, and have come back after their opponent scored first in each of those games. The four-game run is the team's second longest of the season, trailing only their seven-game win streak from Feb. 23-Mar. 7.

* VMI returns to .500 on the season for the first time in two weeks, while moving to 14-11 in non-conference competition, 14-6 in home games, and 12-1 in home non-conference contests.

* Over the past four games, both Robert Crumpler and Elliott Erbe have gone 9-for-16 with a double, two home runs, a walk, a slugging percentage of 1.000 and an on-base percentage of .588. The only statistical differences for the Keydets' fourth and fifth hitters in the lineup are six runs scored for Erbe compared to four for Crumpler, and eight RBI for Crumpler versus seven for Erbe.