LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI Baseball (17-18, 2-4 SoCon) will have its hands full this week with a pair of midweek matchups between Atlantic-10 Conference foes, University of Richmond (13-18, 3-3 A10) and George Mason University (15-15, 3-3 A10).
 
The Keydets face the Spiders on Tuesday at Pitt Field in Richmond, Virginia, while the Patriots will head to the friendly confines of Gray-Minor Stadium for a Wednesday night game. This will be the seventh and eighth straight non-conference matchup for VMI.

Game Information
Location vs. Richmond: Pitt Field
Location vs. George Mason: Lamore Field at Gray-Minor Stadium
Live Stats: Richmond vs. VMI | George Mason vs. VMI
Broadcast: Richmond vs. VMI

Game Schedule and Probables
vs. Richmond | Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
- Marcus Van Alstine (1-3, 7.64 ERA) vs. Chase Topolski (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
vs. George Mason | Wednesday at 6 p.m.
- TBA (---) vs. TBA (---)

Last Time Out
- Keydets took one away from Gardner-Webb in a dominant 10-0 victory on Saturday
- VMI battled in every game last week, losing by just one run in each of their three losses
- Andrew Jones tossed a gem against Gardner-Webb, going six innings with six strikeouts and no runs allowed en route to the victory
- Jack Thompson had a special week, tossing 9.2 innings with six punch outs, one earned run, and a save in two appearances
- Trey Morgan led the Keydets at the plate against the Bulldogs, knocking six hits with four doubles
 
Keys to the Keydets
- Justin Starke was named Southern Conference Player of the Month last Friday after his monstrous outing in March
- For the third straight week, VMI leads the nation in stolen bases and stolen bases per game
- After solid pitching last week, the Keydets' staff are top 20 in the country in BB/9 (3.43) and K/BB ratio (2.71)
- VMI knows how to advance base runners as the Keydets rank 11th in sacrifice bunts (26) and 15th in sacrifice flies (20)
- Keydets have recorded 188 walks this season, the 20th most in the country
- Starke is 28th in the country in on-base percentage (.525) and hits (49)
- Three Keydets rank in the top 20 in stolen bases: Ty Swaim (20), Kazuya Jordan (19), and Brett Cook (18)
- Morgan has reached base in 22 straight games, the longest on-base streak by any Keydet this season
- Keydets have scored 45 times in just the fourth inning
- VMI is 12-5 when playing at home and averages eight runs per contest
- Keep an eye on the record book as Starke is just 10 runs away from breaking the all-time runs record set by current VMI Baseball Head Coach, Sam Roberts

Scouting the A10 Opponents
- Richmond enters the contest 13-18 overall
- Spiders are coming off a series loss to Fordham
- Richmond is 11-11 when playing at home
- Kyle Roche has been key to the Spiders' success, ranking number one in the nation in K/BB ratio (18.00) and BB/9 (0.37)
- Leading Richmond at the plate has been a share of D.J. Pacheco and Aidan O'Keefe who each have a .319 average
- Spiders are 12-2 when scoring six or more runs this season
- For George Mason, the Patriots return to Gray-Minor Stadium with a 15-15 overall record after taking two of three from George Washington
- Patriots have struggled on the road, earning just one victory which happened to be against Richmond
- Night games have been a struggle for the Patriots as George Mason is 0-4 in games played after 4 p.m.
- Just like VMI, George Mason has success on the base path, ranking in the top 20 in stolen bases (66)
- Patriots' staff holds a 7.45 ERA with 213 earned runs
- Jordan Smith has produced big numbers for the Patriots, slashing .390/.686/.496 with 41 hits and 27 RBI
- South Trimble is top 10 in the nation in stolen bases (22) and stolen bases per game (0.76)

Series History
- This will be the 114th meeting between VMI and Richmond
- Keydets are 32-80-1 against the Spiders dating back to 1951
- VMI has won the last two matchups versus Richmond with the last being in March 2023 where the Keydets won, 10-2
- Keydets are 4-11 against George Mason after a tough loss to the Patriots earlier in the season on the road
- This will be the first meeting in Lexington since 2016