LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI baseball team looks for its fifth-straight win Tuesday, traveling to James Madison University for a 3 p.m. non-conference game at Veterans' Memorial Park.
The Keydets swept Coppin State University this weekend in a three-game series to move to 9-4 on the season and 8-0 at home in Gray-Minor Stadium. It is the best start for the program since the 2007 team started 13-3 and the longest home winning streak since that same team won 15-straight in Lexington. That team was coached by current JMU head mentor Marlin Ikenberry, a 1995 VMI graduate and the program's winningest head coach.
Familiar Faces:
*First-year VMI head coach
Sam Roberts '11 will have more than one familiar face in addition to Ikenberry, his college coach, in the JMU dugout Tuesday. Sam's brother Michael Roberts is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Dukes. Michael '09 played for VMI as a catcher and returned to VMI as an assistant coach after playing four seasons of professional baseball.
Red-hot:
*Junior right fielder
Cole Jenkins helped VMI go 4-1 last week, hitting .438 with two home runs, three doubles, six runs and eight RBI. Jenkins had a .500 on base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
*Junior catcher
Cole Garrett hit a team-best .462 last week with a .556 on base percentage
*Junior second baseman
Ty Swaim batted .455 with two triples and three doubles last week and stole four bases.
National Rankings:
*VMI is second in the nation for stolen bases per game (4.23) and 11
th in batting average (.337)
*
Brett Cook and
Zac Morris are tied for fifth in NCAA Division I with 11 stolen bases
*
JT Inskeep is tied for second with three victories while
Will Riley is tied for fourth with three saves
About the Dukes:
*JMU (6-5) is in the ninth game of a 10-game homestand Tuesday and are 6-2 thus far in that span. Fenwick Trimble paces the team with a .390 batting average, five doubles, four home runs, 18 RBI and an .805 slugging percentage.
