*SCHEDULE CHANGE: Friday's contest has been moved to Saturday and will be a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. (ET) due to inclement weather*

LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI Baseball (12-10) heads to Birmingham, Alabama for the Southern Conference series opener against Samford University (13-7) March 22-24 at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The Keydets have had a successful non-conference slate and are riding a three-game winning streak and have taken six of their last seven. However, the Bulldogs will not go down easy as the reigning SoCon champions were predicted to finish first in the league and are 10-1 at home.

Series Information:
Location: Joe Lee Griffin Field
Live Stats: Game One | Game Two | Game Three
Broadcast: Game One | Game Two | Game Three

Series Schedule and Probables:
Game One: Saturday at 2 p.m. (ET)
- LHP Trey Morgan (1-2, 4.80 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Ross (4-0, 2.76 ERA) 
Game Two: Saturday at 5 p.m. (ET)
- RHP Will Riley (3-1, 3.82 ERA) vs. RHP Brooks Rice (3-2, 5.25 ERA) 
Game Three: Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET)
- TBA (---) vs. RHP Will Lynch (1-2, 8.31 ERA)

Last Time Out:
- Keydets stole a 9-8 win from Radford University Tuesday evening after allowing four first-inning runs to cross the plate
- Down by two, VMI earned a come-from-behind win after Cole Raile was called to pinch-hit in the eighth inning and struck a two-out, three-run bomb over the left-field scoreboard
- Raile's fourth homer of the season was projected to go 432 feet and 111 mph off the bat
- Keydets swiped seven bags, the second most in a single game this season
- Brett Cook and Owen Prince each scored twice for VMI
- Evan Parmer earned his first-career win on the bump after tossing 1.1 innings and allowing just one hit
- Marcus Van Alstine shut down the final three Highlanders to get save number six
- Highlanders outhit the Keydets, 10-8, and marks only the second time this season VMI has won despite losing the hitting battle
- Keydets had just two extra-base hits
 
Tracking the Keydets:
- Keydets rank in the top 10 in five different NCAA D-I categories: second in stolen bases (67), fourth in stolen bases per game (3.05), seventh in sacrifice bunts (20), eighth in BB/9 (3.09), and ninth in K/BB ratio (3.12).
- VMI leads the conference in three of the five categories listed above including hit batters (42)
- With Trey Morgan in line for another start on the bump, he is ranked third in BB/9 (0.30), fourth in K/BB ratio (19.00), and sixth in complete games (1) nationally
- Not only can he throw, but Trey Morgan can do damage at the plate, standing second in sacrifice flies (5) in the country
- After picking up save number six on Tuesday, Marcus Van Alstine is sitting second in the NCAA for saves this season
- Owen Prince has made plenty of sacrifices this season, ranking second in sac bunts (7) and fourth in sac bunts per game (0.32) in the nation
- Justin Starke leads the Keydets at the plate, slashing .365/.703/.495
- Brett Cook has been heating up, earning a hit in five straight contests
- The fourth inning has been crucial to the Keydets' offensive game plan, hitting .412/.612/.583, driving in 29 runs, and drawing 21 walks

Scouting the Bulldogs:
- Samford enters the series 13-7 and has won three-straight conference series dating back to last season
- Bulldogs are reigning SoCon Tournament Champions
- After receiving seven first-place nods and 49 total votes from the league's coaches, Samford was predicted to repeat as SoCon champs
- Bulldogs are 10-1 at home this season but have not played at Joe Lee Griffin Field since March 10 when they lost to Charleston Southern
- Samford split the four-game series against Power Five, Purdue, last week
- Samford ranks fifth in the nation in sacrifice flies (17)
- Bulldogs know how to rake, standing first in the SoCon in home runs (32), home runs per game (1.60), and slugging percentage (.546)
- Samford hitters have been successful at the plate, drawing 106 walks and slashing .315/.546/.423 as a team
- Garrett Howe has been dominate at the plate, ranking in the top 25 in multiple NCAA categories: fifth in batting average (.493), sixth in on base percentage (.602), 14th in hits (35), 20th in stolen bases (12), and 24th in runs scored (29)
- Michael Ross looks to add another victory to his belt, accumulating four victories on the mound with a solid 2.76 ERA thus far
- Lucas Steele produces the fifth most sacrifice flies (5) in the country

Series History:
- Samford leads the all-time series, 26-8, with the first matchup being noted from 1997
- 19 of the 34 contests have been in Birmingham, Alabama
- VMI got the best of the Bulldogs last year when the Keydets won, 8-7
- Bulldogs have won 10 of the last 12 meetings with two of the games going into extra innings
- April 10, 2022 was the last time VMI won at Joe Lee Griffin Field