CHARLESTON, S.C. – The VMI baseball team had five players with multiple hits Friday evening and cruised to a 13-5 victory at The Citadel in the opening game of a three-game Southern Conference series in eight innings.

Red-shirt sophomore Will Knight was 3-5 for VMI with a double, three RBI and two runs scored. Justin Starke was 2-3 with a triple, two walks, two runs and two RBI. Zac Morris went 2-4 with a home run, two runs and a walk, Cody Warner had two hits and a walk and Ty Swaim also had two hits. Callen Nuccio tripled, walked and scored twice and Cole Garrett drove in three runs Nathan Loyd walked twice and stole a base.

Nathan Light went the distance on the hill and scattered eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

The Keydets took a 7-1 lead after putting five runs on the board in the fourth. Cody Warner had an RBI single and Knight and Garrett each drove home two with singles. After the
Bulldogs cut the advantage to 7-5 with four runs in the fifth, VMI added three in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth and had two runners on and two outs when the game was halted in the eighth inning after the benches cleared.

Noah Mitchell homered for The Citadel (11-26/3-15 SoCon) and Brooks O'Brien had two hits, including a triple.

The Keydets and Bulldogs will close out the three-game series Saturday with a doubleheader slated to begin at 2 p.m.