LEXINGTON, Va.- Winthrop hurler Robert Lake threw his second career complete game as the Eagles took game two and the series from VMI, 8-2, in Big South Conference baseball action Saturday evening at Gray-Minor Stadium.

Winthrop (23-25, 11-12 Big South) got a two-run home run in the first inning from Matt Thielepape, his second in as many days, to take a 2-0 lead that they never relinquished.  VMI (30-18, 11-12 Big South) managed only single runs in the first and eighth innings against Lake (5-4), who struck out eight while scattering eight hits.

Thielepape went 3 for 5 with three RBIs in the win, while Eddie Rohan hit his 40th career home run, becoming the 10th player in Big South history to reach that plateau.  Tyler Cook was 4 for 5 with a double and three runs scored for the Eagles, who collected 15 hits on the evening.

Keydet starter Jason Farley (4-3) took the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits in six-plus innings.  Alan Watts was charged a single run in two innings of work, striking out four and escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh unscathed.  Ryan Barefoot surrendered three runs in the ninth before Miles McQuaig came on to escape that rally.

No VMI hitter had more than a single knock against Lake, with the lone extra-base hits coming in doubles by Graham Sullivan and Rob Dickinson in the first two innings.  Sullivan plated both VMI runs, bringing home Sam Roberts and Jordan Ballard.

After Thielepape's round tripper put the Eagles in front 2-0, the Keydets tried to rally in the first.  Cory Spangenberg reached on a fielder's choice, but was picked off at first base for the inning's second out.  Jordan Ballard was then hit by a pitch and scored on Sullivan's double to make it 2-1.  Sullivan, however, was picked off at second base to end the rally, marking his conference-leading eighth pickoff of the season.

VMI left two men stranded in the second, before Winthrop left the bases loaded in the third.  The next score of the contest came in the fifth, when Rohan stroked his two-run home run to push the margin to 4-1.

VMI managed only a single base runner in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, failing to advance him past first each time.  The visitors threatened in the seventh against Watts, but the right-hander notched back-to-back strikeouts with the bases juiced to keep the deficit at three runs.  He could not do the same in the eighth, as he surrendered an RBI double to Tyler McBride, the second two-bagger in as many innings for the nine-hitter, that plated Matt Pierpont, who reached via a two-out walk.

The Keydets' last stand came in the eighth, when Roberts and Spangenberg led off the inning with walks.  Lake surrendered just one run, however, with that coming on a sacrifice fly hit by Sullivan.

Winthrop put the game out of reach in the ninth, scoring three runs on four hits.  The RBIs came on three consecutive knocks, including doubles by Thielepape and Patrick Gamblin, followed by a single from Adam Gliebe.  The Keydets got a two-out single from Chase Worthington in the final frame, but nothing else.

The series concludes Sunday at 5 p.m., as the VMI Sports Network will broadcast the game both online at www.VMIKeydets.com and on Lexington's Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM.

Keydet Quick Hits

• With his single in the sixth inning, Cory Spangenberg became VMI's single-season leader in total bases, currently with 130.
• The Keydets need two runs to become the highest scoring team in school history, surpassing the 376 runs scored by the 2006 squad.
• VMI also needs three hits to surpass the school-record total of 557 accumulated by the team in the 2008 season.