LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI baseball team got two outstanding starting pitching performances Saturday and swept both ends of a Southern Conference doubleheader against visiting Mercer University (Ga.) 4-3 and 10-0 in seven innings.
Both victories were walk-off wins and red-shirt freshman first baseman
Justin Starke, this week's SoCon Player of the Week, had six hits in the two games. Mercer (20-14/8-4)
was leading the SoCon's Red Division heading into the weekend's action.
The first game ended in dramatic fashion. Trailing 4-3,
Callen Nuccio led off the ninth with a single and a
Ty Swaim sacrifice bunt moved him to second.
Cody Warner followed with a walk and
Will Knight loaded the bases with a single. Following the second out of the inning, Starke delivered a single to left field to bring home two runners and end the contest.
Red-shirt senior
Jacob Menders threw a complete game for the win, his second victory of the season. The right-hander worked out of jams in the eighth and ninth innings to
keep his team in the game, throwing 137 pitches. He scattered seven hits and five walks while striking out four.
Starke went 3-4 with a walk, Warner had two hits and a walk and Swaim had two hits.
Angelo DiSpigna hit a two-run homer for Mercer in the seventh inning to give the Bears the 4-3 lead before VMI staged its come-from-behind win.
VMI jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning of the second game.
JT Inskeep and Swaim hit RBI singles in the frame, while
Cole Jenkins had the big blow, a two-run triple off the centerfield fence. Starke made it a five-run lead with a home run to left field in the third, his sixth of the season.
VMI finished off the game with five more in the seventh, Morris doubled to bring home a run and Jenkins singled to score two more runs. Warner hit a walk off two-run single to right field to end the contest via the conference's 10-run rule.
Tyler Bradt started his first game of the season and threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings. The red-shirt freshman right-hander allowed just two hits and four walks while striking out three.
Adam Jewell earned his second save of the weekend by working out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh.
Starke was 3-3 with three runs scored and was hit by a pitch. Jenkins was 2-4 with two runs and four RBI while Morris also had two hits. Swaim had a single and was hit by two pitches.
Brandon Michie doubled for the Bears.
VMI also won Friday's game with Mercer to sweep the three-game set, the first conference series sweep for the program since the 2018 season.
VMI (9-20/5-10) travels to Virginia Tech Tuesday for non-conference action at 6:30 p.m.
