LEXINGTON, Va.- It was the right arm of the local product Michael Bowman and the left arm of John Phelps that silenced the bats of Richmond, as the VMI baseball team hurled its first shutout of the season, a 6-0 win over the Spiders Tuesday afternoon at Pitt Field. With the win, VMI has won seven in a row and improves upon their best start in school history with a 9-3 record, while UR falls to 1-6.
Bowman (3-0), a product of Deep Run HS in Richmond's west end, allowed only three hits in his four innings of work in his first career start, while Phelps picked up his first career save by allowing his only hit of the game on the first pitch he threw, as he worked the final five innings, striking out three and allowing only three baserunners in the process.
"It's always good to come and play in Richmond in front of lots of our hometown fans," said VMI head coach
Marlin Ikenberry, a product of Richmond's Douglas Freeman HS. "We were playing our fourth game in four days, so our energy level was a little bit low today, but it was great to have a lot of fans behind us, they really helped to pick us up. Michael Bowman and John Phelps did very well pitching under control today, we were planning to use a few more guys on the mound, but those guys did a great job of putting up zeroes for us all day. Those two have been throwing well all year, and now they have a chance to continue improving before we get into conference play."
Three different Keydets went 3-for-5 on the day, led by Klint Reed's, who drove in a pair of runs and raised his average to .489 in the process. Robert Crumpler also collected a double and two singles, while Douglas Freeman HS product Will Smith had his first multiple hit game of the season, driving in the game's first run in the second inning. The Keydets continued to deliver under pressure at the plate, as each of their six runs came with two outs on the board.
"We were able to really bare down when we needed to and come up with the big hits when we needed them, especially with two outs," said Ikenberry. "Crumpler had a couple of bad at bats before putting together three great AB's, and Klint had that big double in the eighth to tack on two more runs. We're a little banged up right now, so we'll just get back and focus on getting healthy and preparing for Albany this weekend."
Despite threatening in multiple innings, the Spiders were unable to find the big hits when necessary. In the first inning, Bowman saw runners reach second and third with two outs, before escaping the inning unharmed by inducing a flyout to left field. The third and fourth innings would produce similar results, with the Spiders leaving a pair of runners in each inning as Bowman continued to work out of jams.
Meanwhile, the Keydets posted single runs in the second, third and fifth innings, with RBI singles by Smith, Sweppenhiser and Crumpler doing the damage against UR starter Jason Bolinski (0-3). A similar two-out rally in the sixth would result in a 4-0 lead for VMI, with A.J. Yoder's RBI double bringing home B.T. Good.
Phelps entered the game in the fifth inning, allowing only a leadoff single to UR centerfielder Ben Zeskind, who collected three of the team's four hits on the day. Following that, Phelps retired the next batter before a fielding error on the second baseman put runners on the corners for UR. Phelps would then regroup to retire the next 12 batters he faced, before hitting the second man of the ninth inning for the Spiders' final baserunner of the contest.
The Keydets tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth on Crumpler's two-run double, scoring Chad Rice and Michael Roberts.
VMI has now won three in a row against the Spiders for the first time since taking four in a row from 1969-70. The shutout marked the first in the series for VMI since May 5, 1985, when the Keydets took a 7-0 win over the Spiders in the second game of a doubleheader in Lexington.
The Keydets return to action Friday afternoon, when they host Albany in the first game of a three-game set at Patchin Field. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
