LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI Baseball took the rubber match to win the series over Cornell Sunday afternoon at Lamore Field at Gray-Minor Stadium.
The Keydets (17-3) used a three-run sixth inning and a walk-off three-run home run by
Bradley Garner to defeat the Big Red, 7-4, on Senior Sunday. VMI has won all five series and earned its second walk-off victory.
Key Stats
- VMI plated seven with eight hits.
- Garner crushed his sixth homer of the season for three RBIs.
-
Grayson Fitzwater continued his strong stretch with another home run, three RBIs, and two runs.
-
Cole Raile and
Seth Buchanan posted two hits apiece.
- Raile swiped two bags.
-
Eli Tyndall was impressive out of the bullpen, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings.
-
Buddy Baker moves to 4-0 on the bump.
Scoring Summary
- Both sides scored in the opening frame, with Cornell getting an RBI single and VMI returning with a sacrifice fly to knot it up at 1-1.
- The Big Red added one in the third and another in the sixth to regain the lead, 3-1.
- The Keydets' big inning came in the sixth, with Fitzwater's game-tying home run followed by the lead-taking RBI single by
Ayden Schnarrs for the 4-3 advantage.
- In the ninth, Cornell barrelled a couple of pitches to tie it at 4-4.
- Leading up to Garner's big moment,
Easton Ogle wore a pitch to the back to get on base, who was then pinch-run for by
Kazuya Jordan. In the next at-bat, Jordan steals second, then advances to third on a fly ball to have the game-winning run just 90 feet away. Fitzwater was intentionally walked to bring Garner up, who clobbered a 0-1 pitch over the left-centerfield fence.
Next up for the Keydets
The Keydets have a split series against Radford next weekend. VMI travels down to face the Highlanders in Radford, Virginia, on Friday at 6 p.m., then comes back home to host on Saturday at 2 p.m., before going back to Radford for the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Friday and Saturday contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
For more information, visit VMIKeydets.com or follow us on social media at VMI Athletics.