LEXINGTON, Va.? A fantastic pitcher's duel between Liberty's David Stokes and VMI's Michael Bowman went awry in the top of the eighth inning, as the Flames scored four runs, three of them unearned, to take the first game of a Big South Conference weekend series by a 4-0 count on Friday evening at Gray-Minor Stadium. The win improves Liberty to 32-22 overall and 13-6 in the League, while also assuring the Flames of at least the third seed in next week's Big South Conference Championship. VMI falls to 33-18 overall and 9-10 in the Big South.
Stokes (8-5) picked up the win by working seven innings, scattering four hits and three walks, notching seven strikeouts on the evening. He gave way to Dustin Umberger, who allowed two hits over the final two innings while making only his second relief appearance of the season.
Bowman (6-3) took the loss despite allowing only one earned run, though three runs were charged against the sophomore righthander in all. Senior relievers Corey Bachman and Ian Casher came on to work the final two innings, walking four of the ten batters they combined to face.
Both offenses had chances throughout the game, as evidenced by the high number of runners left on base. Liberty stranded 11 runners in all, as they pounded out nine hits on the evening, while VMI left ten men on base, including the bases loaded in both the second and fifth innings. The Flames were paced offensively by junior outfielder Garrett Young, who went 3-for-5 with a run scored, while both Jacoby Fields and Justin Hess collected a pair of hits on the evening for the Keydets.
“Michael Bowman pitched well enough to win tonight, but unfortunately Liberty put together a big eighth inning,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “We made some mistakes in the eighth that cost us runs. I thought we had some good at bats and some chances to score early, but we couldn't get the runs home. Liberty's a good club and they manufactured runs when they had to. I knew going into the game that this would be a good college baseball game, and we had a great pitcher's duel going. We'll come out ready to go tomorrow.”
Both pitchers escaped the first inning unharmed after allowing two-out baserunners, with Young singling to centerfield in the top of the inning and Robert Crumpler getting hit by a pitch in the bottom half. Bowman then responded by notching a pair of strikeouts while retiring the Flames in order in the second, while the Keydets rallied in the bottom. Back-to-back singles from Fields and Biagini were followed by a walk to load the bases with one out in the second, before Justin Hess hit a high chopper just in front of home plate. Liberty backstop Errol Hollinger grabbed the ball and dove to tag Fields as he attempted to score the game's first run, while a Chad Rice groundout ended the Keydet threat to keep the game scoreless.
Bowman ran into a bit of trouble over the next couple of innings, working around a leadoff single in the third inning before working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth inning. Back-to-back singles from Tim Nanry and Phil John were followed by a walk to load the bases, before Bowman wriggled free thanks to a sliding catch from Eddie Van Es in shallow rightfield, while a fielder's choice ended the threat to keep the battle scoreless.
The Keydets managed another rally in the fifth, as Justin Hess collected the first of his two singles before Chad Rice drew a walk. A flyout by A.J. Yoder allowed each runner to tag up, while Robert Crumpler loaded the bases with the third walk issued by Stokes. But the lanky right-hander then got Eddie Van Es to flyout to leftfield, as the Keydets left the bases juiced for the second time.
Young struck again to leadoff the sixth inning, this time with a base knock into right-centerfield. Two batters later, he advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a throwing error by Michael Roberts as he attempted to nail Young at second base. But Bowman responded once again, as he struck out John for the inning's second out before Chad Rice ended the sixth by retiring Patrick Gaillard on a groundout.
After again stranding a pair of runners in the seventh inning, Liberty finally burst through in the eighth. Young got things going by singling into leftfield before Tim Nanry's hot shot to third base was booted, allowing both runners to get into scoring position with no outs. A passed ball gave the Flames a 1-0 advantage, while a walk to John put runners at the corners and chased Bowman from the game in favor of Bachman. Gaillard plated the game's second run by dropping down a first-pitch bunt, while a throwing error on Bachman as he attempted to throw out John at second base allowed the rightfielder to advance to third, as he scored on a groundout one batter later. With the score 3-0, Bachman issued three consecutive walks to bring the tally to 4-0, as Casher came on in relief of Bachman and promptly induced a fielder's choice to escape the inning.
Umberger then came on to work the final two innings, setting down the middle of the Keydet lineup in order in the eighth. In the ninth, he allowed a leadoff single to Fields, but came back with a strikeout and a fielder's choice to bring VMI down to their final out. A single back up the middle from pinch-hitter Brian Sandridge gave the hosts hope, but Umberger's fourth strikeout of the contest wrapped up the Flames' first shutout of the season.
With eight strikeouts in the game, Bowman became only the second Keydet hurler to post 100 strikeouts in a season, as his total now stands at 102. He is chasing the school's 43-year old single-season strikeout mark of 106, set in 1964 by Percy Sensabaugh.
The Keydets and Flames play game two of the weekend series on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at Gray-Minor Stadium. Liberty sends to the mound Michael Solbach (6-2, 3.79 ERA), while VMI will counter with Trey Barham (8-4, 3.05 ERA).
