RICHMOND, Va.? A pair of local products took on the heavy lifting for VMI, as the Keydets scored a 3-1 victory at The Diamond against VCU on Tuesday evening in front of the third-largest crowd to witness a VCU baseball game. Freshman Chris Duty allowed only one run in 6.1 innings to earn the win for the Keydets (29-13), while sophomore catcher Mike Roberts collected a pair of doubles and threw out a pair of runners on the basepaths.
The Rams (24-16) threatened by bringing the winning run to the plate in the ninth inning, but Keydet reliever Corey Bachman nailed down his fifth save of the season and assured the Keydets the season sweep against the Rams, the first by a VMI team in the series since 1955. Duty (Richmond, Va./Monacan) improved to 5-2 on the season by allowing only three hits while striking out six, while Ram starter Phillip Deane (Richmond, Va./Varina) took the hard-luck loss to fall to 3-3, as he was charged with three runs, two earned, on five hits in seven-plus innings of work.
With a vast majority of the 863 fans cheering on the Red, White and Yellow, the Keydet faithful were treated to the first win by a VMI team against VCU in Richmond since 1973. The win improves VMI's record against in-state opposition to 7-3, while it also snapped an eight-game losing streak on the road for the Keydets.
“I was proud of the way our guys came out and competed after a rough weekend at Coastal,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “Chris Duty was on top of his game tonight, and kept VCU off-balance all night. Trey Barham came in and got some big outs when we needed them, and Corey Bachman continued doing what he's been so good at. Mike Roberts had a big night for us, and the bottom part of our order came up big tonight, with Brian Sandridge and Shane Geisslinger each bringing home runs when we needed them.”
Roberts (Prince George, Va./Prince George) and Geisslinger (Midlothian, Va./Clover Hill) each collected a pair of hits for the Keydets, combining for three doubles and two runs scored. For the Rams, John Leonard drove home the team's lone run with a seventh-inning triple to left-centerfield.
The Keydets struck early with a pair of runs off of Deane in the second, as Roberts' one-out double was followed two batters later by Sandridge's single up the middle to break the scoreless tie. Geisslinger then followed with his first double of the season down the leftfield line, plating Sandridge before ending the inning as the junior second baseman was thrown out trying to advance to third base.
Armed with a 2-0 advantage, Duty went to work, mowing down the Ram lineup. He issued a one-out walk in the second inning, but saw Leonard gunned down at second base by Roberts as he attempted to steal, ending the inning. Duty then worked around a one-out triple by Carlos Rodriguez by striking out the next two batters. That began a streak that saw Duty set down nine in a row, broken up by Richard Gonzalez's double to right-centerfield in the sixth inning, but the freshman righty again escaped unscathed by retiring the next two batters.
Deane saw his run of nine straight Keydets retired come to an end in the top of the seventh, when Jacoby Fields singled through the right-side of the infield. However, Fields was left stranded on base, a common theme in the late innings for VMI.
The Rams fought back in their half of the seventh, as Duty walked the cleanup man, Barrett Ripley, who gave way to pinch-runner M.L. Morgan. Leonard then stepped to the plate and delivered his first triple of the season, plating Morgan to make the score 2-1 with only one out. That chased Duty from the game in favor of Barham, who allowed Justin Wright to drove a fly ball into leftfield, deep enough to allow Leonard to score, beating Fields' throw to the plate. However, the Keydets appealed at third base to see if Wright left early as he tagged up, and were rewarded with the third out of the inning, taking the tying run off the board.
With the momentum on the side of the visitors, the Keydets amazingly sent seven men to the plate in the eighth inning without the benefit of a hit. Geisslinger scored the lone run of the inning after walking to leadoff the inning, going to third base on an error by Leonard at first base as he could not hold onto the throw by the catcher on Chad Rice's sacrifice bunt attempt, then scored as Sergio Miranda's throw home from shortstop on Thane Smith's fielder's choice sailed high. Once again though, the Keydets left the bases loaded in the eighth, as neither A.J. Yoder nor Roberts could deliver a back-breaking RBI.
After Barham allowed a leadoff single to Trai Harris in the eighth, he was lifted in favor of Bachman, who struck out Rodriguez for the first out of the inning, before once again Roberts nailed a Ram baserunner attempted to steal second base, as Harris was caught stealing for the second out before Bachman ended the inning with another strikeout, sending the Keydets to the ninth with a 3-1 advantage.
A two-out rally for VMI in the top of the ninth went for naught against reliever Mick Mattaliano, who worked the final two innings for the Rams, setting the stage for a dramatic bottom of the ninth. Protecting a two-run lead, Bachman got the leadoff man to groundout before walking Miranda and allowing a base knock to the third hitter in the order, Chris Jackson. That brought to the plate the cleanup spot, now manned by Morgan, who came into the game hitting .158. After striking out for the second out of the frame, it all came down to Leonard, who lined a full-count pitch to leftfield, where it was gloved by Fields to end the contest.
The Keydets return to action on Friday evening, as they host UNC Asheville in a Big South contest slated for a 7 p.m. start at Gray-Minor Stadium.
