LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI baseball team opened its series with Binghamton by splitting a doubleheader Friday at Lamore Field at Gray-Minor Stadium. The schools played two games Friday due to expected inclement weather Saturday.
 
The Bearcat bats came out swinging in the first game as Binghamton (4-8, 0-0) earned a 6-2 win in Game 1 before VMI (7-9, 0-0) turned around to claim Game 2 by a 5-3 count.
 
VMI catcher Cole Garrett was the hero of Game 2 as he put an end to a 3-3 tie by hitting a two-RBI homerun in the eighth inning to also bring Ty Swaim around the bases in what came to be the winning runs.
 
Game One Recap
-Binghamton struck first in the second inning off of an RBI triple from Mike Stellrecht, who scored on an RBI groundout in the next at-bat to make it 2-0
-VMI pitcher Trey Morgan responded in the 3rd with a clean frame
-On the home side of the 3rd, Kaz Jordan singled, advanced on a balk, and stole third base, but was left stranded
-Both teams traded zeros until Sam Haney led off the visiting side of the 7th inning with a solo home run
-BU added some insurance in the 7th with back-to-back doubles to extend the lead to 4-0
-Morgan drove home Brett Cook with a sac fly in the 7th to get VMI on the board
-Binghamton got two more runs across in the 8th after VMI's Evan Parmer committed a throwing error trying to retire a Bearcat batter who laid down a sac bunt
-VMI pitcher Peter Phillips pitched a scoreless 9th that ended with a 4-6-3 double play
-VMI strung together three hits and a run in the 9th but left two stranded to end the game at 6-2
 
Game 1 Inside the Box Score
- Gabe Driscoll pitched seven innings for Binghamton and earned the win by allowing one earned run on five hits and struck out five of 26 batter faced. He was relieved by Justin Rosner, who pitched two inning and allowed two hits and one earned run while striking out three VMI batters
-Three VMI errors proved costly to keep Binghamton runners on base
-Morgan threw for seven innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits while striking out six of 30 batters faced. Parmer threw for 0.1 innings and allowed one earned run on two hits after facing four batters.
-Cole Jenkins had two hits in four at-bats for VMI, while Brett Cook and Morgan both had two hits in three at-bats. Cook scored both of VMI's runs during the game
*Binghamton's Evin Sullivan led the Bearcats with three hits and scored one run
 
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Game Two Recap
-After two scoreless innings, Binghamton struck first on a Devan Bade sac fly to right field that brought in Mike Stellrecht
-In the fifth inning, VMI's Owen Prince brought in Grayson Fitzwater on a single to center field to knot the score at 1-1
-Later in the fifth, VMI's Cole Jenkins hit a two-RBI homer to center field that brought in Justin Starke to put VMI up, 3-1
-The Bearcats caught up in the top of the sixth when Mike Gunning hit a two-run homerun to score Sullivan and again match the score at 3-3
-VMI won the game in the eighth with Garrett's home run to left field for the final score of 5-3
 
Game 2 Inside the Box Score
-Prince had two hits in four at-bats to lead the VMI offense
-Starke, Jenkins, Swaim, Garrett and Fitzwater all had one hit on the day and each scored one run to lead VMI to the win
-Both teams had additional scoring opportunities but each left seven batters stranded during the contest
-Sullivan led Binghamton with three hits out of four at-bats. Four of his teammates each had one hit during the second game
-Ryan Bates pitched five innings for Binghamton and allowed three runs on three hits while fanning three VMI batters. Spencer Howell picked up the loss in one inning pitched as the final hurler allowing two VMI runs on two hits
-Will Riley pitched six innings for VMI, allowing three earned runs on six hits after facing 26 batters
-Nathan Hawley earned the win for VMI in 2.1 innings pitched, allowing just one hit and striking out four Binghamton batters
-Marcus Van Alstine earned his fourth save of the young season in 0.2 innings pitched
 
Up Next
VMI and Binghamton finish up their three-game series Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Gray-Minor Stadium and will be VMI's first home ESPN+ broadcast of the season.