RADFORD, Va.? Sophomore Chris Henderson picked up his sixth win of the season by pitching into the eighth inning as VMI held on for a 7-5 win over Radford on Sunday afternoon at Dedmon Center Park in Big South Conference action. The win improves VMI to 33-16 overall and 9-9 in Big South play, while the Highlanders fall to 10-31 overall and 2-16 in the League.
Henderson (6-3) scattered nine hits while allowing four runs, three earned, in his second Big South win of the season, while senior reliever Corey Bachman earned his sixth save of the season by working the final inning and two-thirds, allowing only two hits. Taking the loss for RU was starter John Lloyd (1-4), who allowed all seven of VMI's runs on six hits, working 3.2 innings.
“We got some big performances offensively from quite a few guys at the bottom of the lineup, including Shane Geisslinger and Justin Hess to get us going,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “Shane got us going with the two-run single in the second inning, and Justin went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs hitting in the eighth spot. Robert Crumpler came up with a big home run to extend the lead, and Eddie Van Es brought home a pair of runs too. I can't say enough about Chris Henderson's performance today, Radford got some good at bats off of him but Chris made the big pitches when he needed to. Corey Bachman once again came up big at the end of the game to eliminate a comeback for the third-straight game by Radford. It's always good to win a series on the road in this conference, especially this late in the year.”
Once again, VMI jumped out to an early lead, but this time the Keydet pitching staff allowed the lead to stand up. Back-to-back two-run singles from Shane Geisslinger and Chad Rice broke a scoreless tie in the second inning, while Robert Crumpler advanced the lead to 5-0 with his solo home run in the third inning. Crumpler's 14th home run of the season was also his 30th career roundtripper, moving him into a tie for seventh on VMI's career home run list.
Two more runs came across in the fourth inning, with Eddie Van Es' single through the right-side of the infield plating both Justin Hess and A.J. Yoder. That single came off of reliever Josh Hammonds, though both runs were credited to the starter Lloyd, bringing the margin to 7-0.
The Keydet bats fell silent from there, as Radford began to mount a charge in the fifth. Henderson allowed a one-out double to Jonathan Spears before Rocky Weiss slugged his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to leftfield to bring the margin to 7-2. Henderson escaped further damage in the fifth by stranding a pair of runners by inducing a groundout by Corey Greene, then worked around single baserunners in the sixth and seventh.
In the eighth inning with lead still at 7-2, Henderson walked Greene and allowed an RBI double to Alex Gregory, leaving the game in favor of Daniel Wood. The lefthander struggled with his control, as a passed ball brought the sophomore slugger to third base, while a wild pitch on the next toss plated Gregory to bring the margin to 7-4. After Wood issued a five-pitch walk to Raphael Turner, reliever Ian Casher came on to face Nate Toth, who had tied each of the last two contests with base hits. Casher induced an infield pop-up and left the game in favor of Bachman, who recorded the final two outs while allowing Turner to score on Rick Hoogstraten's base hit up the middle, leaving the game at 7-5 headed to the ninth.
Once again, the Keydets came up empty in the top of the frame, leaving Bachman to make a two-run lead stand up. The senior righty did just that, retiring pinch-hitter Jeff Cooper on a flyout to left field, before leadoff man Steve Mignogna singled into centerfield to bring the tying run to the plate once again in pinch-hitter Tyren Rivers. A hit-and-run then backfired on the Highlanders, as Mignogna took off on the pitch to Rivers, who hit a soft pop-up to Bachman, who made the catch and flipped to first for the game-ending double play.
VMI (9-9) now stands in a tie for fifth-place in the League standings with UNC Asheville (9-12), as each team boasts nine wins in Big South play this season. The Bulldogs, however, are done with their Big South slate after dropping two-of-three at home to Coastal Carolina this weekend. Additionally, the Keydets can lock up the fourth seed in the Big South Championship with one win against Liberty next weekend, thanks to High Point (10-11) dropping two-of-three this weekend at home to Charleston Southern. The Keydets hold the tiebreaker against both UNCA and HPU thanks to home series wins earlier this season.
The Keydets return to action on Tuesday evening, as Old Dominion comes to Gray-Minor Stadium for a 7 p.m. start.