LEXINGTON, Va.? Jordan Ballard's two-run double in the eighth inning gave VMI their eighth last at bat win this season as the Keydets came from behind for a 9-7 win over Charleston Southern on Sunday afternoon at Gray-Minor Stadium.
The regular season finale for both VMI (29-24, 14-7 Big South) and CSU (18-34, 6-15 Big South) included five home runs, four lead changes, nine pitchers and a 25-minute rain delay.
Keydet freshman Sam Roberts (1-0) recorded his first career win, retiring the only two batters he faced to wrap up the eighth before VMI's comeback. CSU closer Payton Tweddale (2-4) took the loss, being charged with three runs on four hits while working the fateful eighth.
Tanner Biagini (3-for-4) and Mike Roberts (2-for-4) each had home runs and two RBIs in the contest, while both A.J. Yoder and Shane Geisslinger also contributed a pair of hits.
Leading the way for the visitors was Kory Morian, as the second baseman went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Nick Chinners went 3-for-4 with two doubles, while Steve Antolik went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and his 11th home run of the season. In all, the 2-3-4 hitters in the CSU lineup ended up 9-for-14 with four doubles, a home run and four RBIs.
With CSU holding a 5-4 advantage in the home fifth, heavy rain forced the game's delay. When play resumed, VMI had the tying run thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
A home run from Jake Cox to lead off the sixth gave the Bucs a 6-4 advantage, before RBI singles from Geisslinger and Mike Roberts tied the contest in the sixth.
Keydet reliever Lefty Flora worked a scoreless seventh before Kory Morian struck for an RBI double to put the visitors up 7-6 in the top of the eighth.
Against Tweddale, Biagini deliver a two-out single to put the go-ahead run on base in the home eighth. Ballard then delivered his only hit of the game, a two-bagger into the right-center field gap to put VMI up 8-7. Brian Sandridge followed with a base knock up the middle to plate Ballard, before pitcher Trey Barham struck out to end the inning in his first at bat of the season.
Chris Duty came on to work the ninth for the Keydets, plunking Tom Burkett to put the tying run on base following Derek Smith's leadoff single. After a wild pitch allowed both runners to move into scoring position, shortstop A.J. Yoder's leaping grab on a liner in shallow left field ended the contest.
The third-seeded Keydets play their first contest of the 2008 Big South Conference Baseball Championship on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m., taking on fourth-seeded Winthrop at Dan Daniel Memorial Park in Danville, Va.
Keydet Quick Hits
- With its 14-7 Big South record, the team has tied the school record for best conference winning percentage at .667, tying the 8-4 mark put up in 1987 in current VMI Athletic Director Donny White's final season as head coach.
- The 14-7 conference record is also VMI's first winning conference season since joining the Big South and its first since the team went 16-14 under Tom Slater in 2003. The 14 wins are the second-most in school history behind the 2003 squad.
- The third seed is the highest seed a VMI team has earned in a conference tournament not using divisional seeding. The Keydets have been the fourth seed in the Southern Conference in 1989 and 1990 and in the Big South in 2007.
- It marks the first time in program history VMI has swept three conference opponents in three-game series in the same season. VMI swept High Point on the road and both Radford and Charleston Southern at Gray-Minor Stadium this season.
- The win in VMI's final at bat is the team's sixth this season in conference play, accounting for nearly half of the team's conference wins.
- Following a nine-game losing streak in March, VMI went 25-12 over the regular season's final 37 games.
