LEXINGTON, Va.? VMI sophomore southpaw Trey Barham kept one of the nation's top hitting teams at bay for eight innings, but surrendered a walk-off home run to JMU senior Nate Schill to leadoff the ninth inning, as the Keydets fell 2-1 to their rivals from just up Interstate 81 on Wednesday afternoon in both teams' non-conference finale.
Barham (Portsmouth, Va./Greenbriar Christian Acad.) struck out a career-best 12 batters in the game, running his season total to 95, good enough for the second-most in VMI school history in a single season. He scattered five hits while hurling his third complete game of the season, but saw his only two mistakes, an eighth-inning walk and the walk-off home run, ruin his outstanding performance, as he fell to 7-5 on the year.
“Trey did a great job today,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “The game was coming down to who had the last at bat, and unfortunately for us, they did. Both sides made great pitches at gametime. I was really pleased with how we played defensively today and how we competed.”
While Barham was mowing down the Dukes' hitters, JMU was using six pitchers to stymie the Keydets' bats. Starter Jacob Cook worked the longest by going three innings, surrendering only a first-inning single to Kelly Sweppenhiser, a knock which broke a tie for the most career hits in school history and moved Sweppenhiser past Chris Catanzaro with his 259th career hit.
“Kelly is a great hitter,” remarked Ikenberry. “He's worked extremely hard to achieve these goals, and we couldn't be prouder for him.”
The game zipped along at a brisk pace, with neither offense able to mount much off of the opposing pitchers. Following Sweppenhiser's single, 15 Keydet batters were retired in a row, until a double from Klint Reed down the leftfield-line broke the string in the sixth inning.
The Dukes moved the first baserunner of the game to third base in the eighth inning, as Matt Townsend took the only walk issued by Barham in the contest, stole second base, then moved to third base on a groundout to the hot corner. A double to deep right field plated Townsend, and before they knew it, the Keydets were down 1-0 going to the ninth inning.
But the visitors rallied in their final at bat. Leadoff batter A.J. Yoder reached on an error by Schill on a bunt, as the first baseman failed to hold onto the throw from the catcher. Reed was plunked by the second offering from JMU closer Bobby Lasko (2-2), before a sacrifice bunt by Chad Rice moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Sweppenhiser was then plunked by Lasko to load the bases, bringing cleanup-man Robert Crumpler to the plate.
Crumpler delivered with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, as Townsend was forced to slide to make the catch and was unable to make a throw home to prevent Yoder from scoring the unearned run, tying the game at one. Jacoby Fields then struck out on a pitch on the outside corner to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
Schill then led off the frame by atoning for his error in the previous inning, blasting his 13th home run of the season on a 2-0 count. The win is the eighth straight for the Dukes overall and is the 12th straight in the series between JMU and VMI, with the last meeting between the teams coming in 1995.
The Keydets close out the season by hosting Winthrop this weekend at Patchin Field. Friday's contest is set for a 3 p.m. start, with Saturday's game scheduled for 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale a 1 p.m. start.
