LYNCHBURG, Va. - Liberty scored in each of the final six innings, coming from behind for the third straight game to defeat No. 26 VMI, 13-8, in Big South Conference action Sunday afternoon at Worthington Stadium. The series sweep improves the Flames to 25-10 on the year and 9-3 in conference play, while VMI falls to 29-8 overall and 10-5 in the league.
Liberty starter Steven Evans (5-1) picked up the win by scattering 10 hits though 6.1 innings, allowing just three runs. Sam Roberts (5-2) lasted five-plus innings in his start, being charged with eight runs, six earned, on 10 hits. He was the first of five Keydet hurlers on the afternoon, with Jeremy Brown as the only one not to allow a run, doing so by retiring the lone batter he faced.
Tyler Bream picked up a team-best three RBIs for the Flames, as each of the team's starters had a hit and either scored or drove home a run. Leading the hit parade was Curran Redal, who went 4 for 5 from the leadoff spot, while Justin Richardson went 3 for 4 with a double and two runs scored in his first start of the weekend series.
Jordan Ballard went 3 for 5 with a three-run home run in the eighth, his 16th of the year to tie him for VMI's single-season record. Chase Worthington was 3 for 4 with an RBI, while Graham Sullivan, Rob Dickinson and Cory Spangenberg also had a pair of knocks for the Keydets.
VMI plated a pair off of Evans in the first, thanks to a throwing error on a double steal and an RBI single by Sullivan. The Flames halved the lead in the third, when Kenneth Negron scored on a fielder's choice hit by Tyler Bream.
Liberty took the lead for good in the fourth, sending eight to the plate in a four-run rally. P.J. Jimenez plated the first run with his double into left field, followed by Michael Robertson's single, the fourth straight hit to open the inning against Roberts. An error and a groundout plated the other two runs, putting the Flames up 5-2.
Another unearned run came across in the bottom of the fifth, but VMI got it back on a single from Worthington, scoring Sullivan. Liberty then delivered another four-run rally in the sixth. VMI used three pitchers in the inning but could not stop the bleeding, as a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly scored the first two runs, followed by RBI knocks by Williams and Justin Richardson.
The Flames tacked on two more in the seventh, taking their largest lead at 12-3, before VMI fought back in the eighth. Four consecutive Keydets reached on singles against reliever Carter Browning, before Ballard struck for a three-run home run to cap the rally. VMI would draw no closer, as Negron scored Richardson with an RBI single in the eighth to account for the final margin, 13-8.
VMI returns to Gray-Minor Stadium Tuesday evening, playing host to VCU at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast by the VMI Sports Network on Lexington's Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM and online at www.VMIKeydets.com.
