PRINCE GEORGE, Va. - VMI opened its 2010 season with a bang, sweeping a doubleheader from Bucknell by scores of 9-4 and 6-5 on Saturday at Prince George High School.
With the Keydets' home facility, Gray-Minor Stadium, out of commission due to snow and ice, the season-opening series was moved nearly three hours east to PGHS. The Keydets made the most of their new surroundings, jumping out to a 2-0 start to the season for just the second time in 17 seasons. The Bison fell to 0-2 to open their 2010 campaign.
The Keydets were led at the plate by a pair of freshmen in game one, as Cory Spangenberg and Erickson Keeton combined to go 6 for 6 with six RBI. Spangenberg went 4 for 4 with a double and a home run, scoring twice and driving in three, while Keeton hit home runs in each of his two swings, including a two-run shot in the second inning and a solo job in the fourth.
On the mound, a pair of sophomores combined for the win. Adam Lopez went 3.2 innings in his start, striking out six while scattering three hits and allowing just two runs, one earned. Jeremy Brown then came on to finish the job, going 3.1 innings to earn the win while surrendering two runs and punching out four.
"We came out swinging the bats very aggressively in game one," said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. "Erickson Keeton and Cory Spangenberg had big days for us. It's a shame Erickson pulled his hamstring, he hit the ball, and it ended up as a home run, but he was running hard and pulled it coming around first base. I was really pleased with how Jeremy Brown and Adam Lopez pitched. Adam made two starts last year, and for him to come in here and start opening day like that was a good thing to see."
In game two, freshman Rob Dickinson went 3 for 4 at the plate, scoring a pair of runs, while Spangenberg and Sam Roberts each drove home a pair with back-to-back hits in the fourth inning. The win went to redshirt junior Chris Duty, who pitched 3.2 innings for VMI, allowing just one run on five hits, striking out five, while Michael Devine earned the first save of his career by working a scoreless ninth.
"In game two, I thought Coby Cowgill threw the ball well, but he got up to his pitch-count limit and we ran Chris Duty out there. I was very pleased with the way he pitched, he did an outstanding job. I can't speak highly enough of our young players, who had a great day for us. Travis Thomas did a nice job in relief, and then Michael Devine shut the door. It made for a really exciting game on the backside of a doubleheader. I was real pleased with our focus and the way we played, and I really like the way our club plays hard every day."
The Bison jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game one, with the first coming across on a throwing error by Keeton in right field, while B.J. LaRosa plated the second run of the inning with a right-field single. The Keydets answered in the second, as Keeton atoned for his miscue with his two-run home run.
The Keydets went to the long ball again in the third inning, as Spangenberg plated two with his center-field shot, while Biagini followed with his first of the season, giving the Keydets a 5-2 advantage. Lopez, meanwhile, settled in after his lengthy first inning to retire eight in a row, including four strikeouts.
After a leadoff home run by Keeton in the fourth made it a 6-2 VMI lead, the Keydets rallied for a pair in the fifth inning and added another in the sixth. On the other side of the ledger, Bucknell could only muster a two-run Matt Lamore home run off of Brown, that coming in the sixth, in the seven-inning contest. Trey Frahler took the loss for the Bison, surrendering six runs on eight hits in four innings, though the junior did punch out seven without issuing a walk.
The Bison jumped on top early in game two as well, taking a 4-2 lead thanks to a three-run second inning. VMI took control in the fourth, however, as Roberts hit a bases-loaded double to score two runs, while Spangenberg followed with a two-run single to push VMI in front, 6-4. The Bison responded with a two-out double from Doug Shribman in the sixth inning to draw within a run, but Travis Thomas came on for his first collegiate appearance and induced a first-pitching groundout to escape the jam. Thomas then followed with two more perfect innings, ending the day by using just 16 pitches to retire each of the seven batters he faced.
In the ninth, Keydet closer Devine issued two walks to start the frame, but came back to retire the next three batters, the final two via strikeout, to notch the save.
On the doubleheader, the four Keydet freshmen in the lineup combined to go 10 for 16 (.625), driving in nine runs and scoring six. Spangenberg led the way with a 5 for 8 day, hitting two doubles and a home run while also stealing a base. Bucknell was paced by LaRosa, who hit four singles in seven at bats, while Shribman accounted for a team-high three RBIs with his two doubles.
The teams wrap up the series Sunday, playing at PGHS with a start time of 1 p.m.
