LEXINGTON, Va. – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers got a career-high 10-strikeout game from starting pitcher Tyler Herb and defeated the VMI Keydets, 6-1, in the opener of a Big South doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Gray-Minor Stadium in Lexington, Va.
Coastal Carolina (15-11, 4-1 Big South) gave Herb a 4-0 lead early, and the senior proceeded to strike out six of VMI's first nine hitters and cruised the rest of the way. The Keydets mounted threats against the right-hander in the fourth and seventh, but they resulted in just a single unearned run as the Chanticleers easily held on for the victory in the middle game of the series.
Herb (4-1) got the win with eight innings of four-hit ball, allowing only the single unearned run. He did not walk a batter in his 95-pitch effort. Campbell Henkel (1-3) took the loss for the Keydets, as he surrendered six runs (five earned) in five innings. He allowed eight hits, struck out three and walked four.
The visitors jumped ahead in the first inning against Henkel, when Ted Blackman led off with a single. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second and he promptly stole third, before scoring on a fielding error to make it 1-0, Coastal. A Jake Kane sacrifice fly later in the inning doubled that margin to 2-0, and it doubled again in the second. Luke Willis walked to lead off the inning, and a bunt single by Connor Owings put two on. One out later, Nick Oberg drove in a run with a groundout and Blackman walked to load the bases. May then singled to left, scoring Owings to give the Chanticleers a 4-0 lead.
The Keydets got a leadoff bloop double from Will Connerley in the fourth and Rob Dickinson drilled the next ball right back at Herb. The Coastal pitcher snagged the ball in the air, just off his right thigh and threw to second to double off Connerley. The slick fielding cost VMI immediately, as Matt Winn was hit by a pitch and Brandon Angus singled, putting runners at the corners, but Red Dowdell grounded out to end the inning.
Coastal added on in the sixth, thanks to a RBI fielder's choice by Oberg and a sacrifice fly by Blackman, pushing its margin to 6-0.
The Keydets got on the board in the eighth, when Winn led off with a double to right-center. One out later, Dowdell advanced him with an infield out and Nick Dwyer followed with a groundball to the backhand side of shortstop Oberg. The ball went off the tip of Oberg's glove for an error, allowing Winn to score and the Keydets to cut the margin to 6-1. That was all VMI could muster, however, as Herb pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Seth Lamando allowed just a single baserunner in the ninth.
Offensively, four players had one hit apiece for the Keydets, while Willis and Owings had two hits and two runs scored each for the visitors. The loss was VMI's fourth in four tries in the opening game of a doubleheader this season, while later Saturday, the Keydets would go to 4-0 in the finales of 2013 twinbills.
