LEXINGTON, Va.- For the first time in five seasons, the VMI baseball program has seen a pair of their players named First Team All-Conference, as junior third baseman Kelly Sweppenhiser and senior shortstop Matt Smith were so honored earlier this week by the Big South Conference.
Not since seniors Ian Ostlund and Eric Walker turned the trick in 2000, when VMI was a member of the Southern Conference, have the Keydets had two players named among the league's best. This season, the left-side of the VMI infield ranked one-two on the team in hits and doubles, while both Sweppenhiser and Smith registered career-best marks in hits, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and walks.
However, an All-Conference award wasn't the only hardware that Sweppenhiser (Herndon, Pa./Line Mountain) walked away with, as he was also named to the conference's All-Academic Team. This season, Sweppenhiser has put up many impressive numbers, including tying the single-season record for total bases at VMI (128). He ranked among the top six in the conference in eight different categories at the conclusion of the regular season, including doubles (18, 1st), on-base percentage (.496, tied-2nd), slugging percentage (.653, tied-3rd), home runs (12, 4th), total bases (126, 4th), batting average (.373, 4th), hit by pitches (12, 4th) and walks (39, 6th).
Smith (Cheapeake, Va./Great Bridge) will leave the Institute with his name all over the VMI record books, as he ranks among the career leaders in numerous categories. After his superb season in 2005, when he hit .305, collected 68 hits, had 12 doubles while driving in 39 runs from the leadoff spot, Smith is tied for the second-most hits in school history (218) while also ranking fifth in career stolen bases (38) and seventh in career doubles (37). This season, he also shattered the single-season at-bat record with 223, breaking the old mark of 201 while still collecting 32 walks.
This season has been a remarkable one for the Keydets, as they established a new school record for wins in a season (27), while becoming the first team to post three consecutive 20-win seasons in school history. Over the past four seasons, the 2005 senior class has racked up 85 wins, the most in a four-year period, while breaking the school record for wins twice. This season, that record did not come easily, with regular-season weekend series with Auburn, Vanderbilt and Florida State. But the Keydets won six of their final seven regular-season contests to qualify for their first-ever Big South Conference Championship, finishing the season one game under .500 (27-28) while garnering the fifth seed in the tournament with 11 wins in the league.
