LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI baseball team will play its third Southern Conference series of the year this weekend at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Thomas Stadium. Both teams are in the middle of the conference standings with identical 3-3 records.
The Keydets led eighth-ranked Virginia Tech 6-5 in the fourth inning Tuesday evening, but the
Hokies rallied for a 9-6 victory. The
Keydets went ahead early with five runs in the second inning.
Zac Morris led off with a walk and
Cole Jenkins doubled with one out to put runners at second and third.
Cole Garrett hit a three-run blast to left field to put the
Keydets ahead 3-0. Ty
Swaim was hit by a pitch and
Brett Cook homered to left field to push the lead to 5-0.
After the
Hokies scored five runs in the bottom of the third VMI retook the lead in the fourth. Jenkins singled, advanced to second on an error and later scored on a passed ball to put the
Keydets ahead 6-5. Virginia Tech scored two runs each in the fourth and sixth innings of the tightly-contested ballgame.
Alex
LaRou started for VMI on the hill and threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.
Nathan Light tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames with two strikeouts and
Will Riley finished the game with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. Justin
Starke finished 2-4 with a double and was also hit by a pitch. Jenkins went 2-4 with two runs and
Trey Morgan and
Will Knight each had a hit and a walk.
The Keydets are coming off a series victory at home against The Citadel, winning the first game 5-2 and the second contest 3-2. Morris started all three games against the Bulldogs at second base and hit .400 with a double, a home run and three runs scored. Knight hit .375, as did Reeves
Whitmore. Cook had a batting average of .364 and delivered a walk-off single to score Justin
Nase and cap
VMI's 3-2 win Friday evening.
Trey Morgan got the win in the series opener on Thursday, working seven innings and giving up just five hits, no walks, two earned runs with three strikeouts. Light worked 3 2/3 innings out of the bullpen in the Friday game and allowed just one hit, one walk and no runs with five strikeouts. Riley earned a win and a save over the weekend, throwing 2 1/3 frames of shutout ball with five strikeouts.
ETSU (21-12) started their SoCon slate with a three-game sweep of Western Carolina University, but were swept last weekend at #25 Wofford College.
