LEXINGTON, Va.- An impressive pitching performance by starter Trey Barham gave VMI an 11-4 win in the first game, while a three-home run outburst by Radford's Alex Gregory gave the Highlanders a 12-7 victory in game two of a Big South Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Patchin Field. VMI now stands at 24-13, 5-7 in the League, while RU posts a 5-32 mark overall and 2-13 in conference play.
Barham (6-2) struck out a career-high ten batters while giving up his only walk to the final batter he faced. He left the first game after pitching 7.2 innings, allowing only three runs (two earned) on four hits. In game two, Gregory ended up 4-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored, including home runs in the second, fifth and seventh innings.
“We won the series, and that's what we aim to do every weekend,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “We played hard all day. In the first game, I thought the offense really came through, and Trey was tremendous. Klint Reed had a great approach, going 3-for-3, as did Kelly Sweppenhiser (3-for-5) In game two, we just weren't able to find the pitching we needed. B.T. Good was great going 5-for-5 in game two, and Eddie Van Es (2-for-3) did a great job to bring home three runs for us.”
The Keydets scored in five of the first six innings in the opening game of the twinbill, as Sweppenhiser and Reed led the way with six combined hits. Robert Crumpler also chipped in with a pair of hits, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning to extend the Keydets' lead to 7-1. Taking the loss for Radford was Justin Morgan (1-5), who surrendered nine runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in five innings.
In game two, RU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, and steadily built on that lead for the rest of the game. The closest VMI would get was a three-run deficit, but RU continually answered to post their second Big South win of the season. Leading the Highlander charge was Gregory, Jeff Cooper (4-for-5) and Nick Minter (3-for-4). Earning the win for RU was Josh Deaver (1-2), who surrendered five runs (three earned) on ten hits in 7.1 innings. Taking the loss for VMI was Michael Bowman (3-1), who gave up four runs (three earned) in one-plus innings, giving up three hits and a walk.
RU claimed a 1-0 first-inning lead in game one, thanks to a fielding error on the second baseman, a pair of passed balls and a fielding error on the third baseman. However, Barham was able eventually escape the inning by inducing a fielder's choice. The Keydets answered in their half of the first with a pair of unearned tallies, with Sweppenhiser's groundout accounting for the first run and a double by Klint Reed giving VMI a 2-1 advantage.
After a squeeze bunt executed by Good gave the hosts a 3-1 lead, a four-run fourth extended the lead further. An RBI double by Chad Rice was followed by a single to left field that was misplayed, leading to another run scoring. Crumpler then blasted his fifth bomb of the season, a shot to left field to put VMI up 7-1.
The Highlanders answered with a pair of runs in the fifth, as Steven Ellis brought home the first run with his centerfield single, then scored on a wild pitch three batters later to cut the score to 7-3.
But VMI came back, as Mike Roberts scored from first base on A.J. Yoder's double to right-centerfield in the fifth inning. They would then tack on three more runs in the sixth to make the advantage 11-3, before a leadoff triple by Jonathan Spears led to RU's final run, making the final tally 11-4.
In game two, RU again took the early lead, when Gregory led off the second inning with his first roundtripper of the day. That was followed by a two-run single from Minter and an RBI single by Ben Toth to give the visitors the 4-0, second-inning lead. They then tacked on single runs in the third and fourth innings, with Cooper's RBI single and Minter's solo home run doing the damage.
The Keydets struck in the fourth, when they scratched out three runs, as Crumpler scored on a groundball to the shortstop hit by Reed that was mishandled, allowing Reed to reach base. He later scored on Van Es' two-run single. However, the hosts left a pair of runners stranded while only cutting the margin to 6-3.
RU responded in the top of the fifth, with back-to-back home runs from Nate Toth and Gregory off of VMI reliever John Phelps. VMI posted single runs in the fifth and sixth to again cut the lead to three runs at 8-5, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way, as RU tacked on two runs in the seventh and ninth, while the Keydets only posted two runs in a ninth-inning rally, bringing the final score to 12-7.
Good's five-hit day is the first of the season for VMI, as he collected four singles and a double while scoring two runs. Gregory's three-home run game was also a season-high for Radford, besting his own mark, when he hit two against N.C. A&T in early March.
