LEXINGTON, Va. - After dropping a back-and-forth game one by an 8-6 tally to the Liberty Flames, the Keydets were able to avoid the sweep on the heels of a solid outing from redshirt-junior Jason Farley who fanned a season-high eight batters to take game two of the doubleheader, 3-1.
In the first contest of the day, VMI (20-19-1, 9-9 Big South) held a 6-5 lead heading into the ninth inning, propelled by a grand-slam by junior Jacob Morley in the eighth inning, his first home run of the season. However, the Flames (22-18, 12-6 Big South) plated three runs in the ninth to take an 8-6 lead off VMI's senior closer Sam Roberts, keyed by back-to-back homers by Jeff Jefferson and Zach Haley, and an RBI double by Michael Robertson.
Liberty took a 2-0 lead in the second, as Tyler Bream singled to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Justin Sizemore hit a two-run shot over the left field fence. The Flames tacked on another run in the third on a Jefferson homer heading into the bottom of the fifth.
VMI cut the lead to 3-2 in the home half of the fifth, as the inning began with singles by freshman Jordan Tarsovitch and junior Chase Worthington. Later in the inning, a Roberts sacrifice fly and a single by senior Graham Sullivan gave the Keydets a pair of runs to make the contest a one run ballgame.
The 3-2 score remained until the eighth, until Liberty's Matt Williams blasted a two-run shot to centerfield to stretch the Flame lead to 5-2.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Keydets were aided by three Liberty fielding miscues and a George Piccirilli walk to load the bases with no outs. After reliever Garrett Baker retired the next two batters, Morley hit a grand slam over the centerfield fence to give VMI the 6-5 lead before falling 8-6.
Roberts took the loss in relief, falling to 1-4 on the season. Keydet starter Jeremy Brown went 7.1 innings, and allowed five earned runs on six hits and struck out four batters.
Liberty starter Steven Evans allowed five runs, two of which were earned, in seven-plus innings of work while fanning a pair of Keydets. Baker took the win to improve to 5-2 on the season. In game two, VMI jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through two innings, as Piccirilli ripped a one out triple, his second of the year in the first. The next batter, Sullivan, flied out to right, scoring Piccirilli for the first run of the contest.
In the second, a pair of VMI doubles off the bat of bat of sophomore Rob Dickinson and classmate Andrew Montague resulted in VMI's second score of the contest, giving VMI a 2-0 lead that stood until the sixth inning.
In the Liberty half of the sixth, Haley singled with one out, and advanced to third on a Montague throwing error. Two batters later, Michael Robertson hit an RBI single up the middle to cut the Keydet lead in half at 2-1.
The Keydets tacked on an insurance run in the eighth, after Sullivan led off the inning with a walk off of Liberty starter Keegan Linza. After Linza was lifted in favor of Jake Kemmerer, Sullivan stole second, and moved to third on a Tarsovitch single. A Kemmerer balk scored Sullivan from third to bring the count to the final score of 3-1 in favor of the Keydets.
Farley picked up the win to improve to 2-6, throwing six innings of six hit ball and allowed one run while fanning a season-high eight Flames. Sophomore Travis Thomas earned his second save of the year, tossing 1.2 innings of shutout baseball and allowed one hit.
Linza fell to 6-3 on the season, allowing eight hits and three earned runs in seven innings of work.
The hitless day for Roberts snaps his nine game multi-hit streak, which began on April 19 against VCU.The Keydets return to mid-week action on Tuesday, April 26, as the squad hosts the James Madison Dukes from Gray-Minor Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.
