VMI 10, James Madison 6
LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI Keydets drew a school-record-tying 13 walks and stole six bases, including their first steal of home since 2009, en route to a 10-6 win over the James Madison Dukes in nonconference baseball action Tuesday night.
JMU (18-30) had a 2-1 lead after one inning thanks to a Chad Carroll home run, but Trey Jones walked five Keydets in the third inning and was touched for four runs on only one hit. The Keydets (18-27) would not trail again on a night that saw them draw 13 walks for the fourth time in school history and the second time in as many seasons.
The six stolen bases included four by Brandon Angus, one shy of the school record, and among Angus' quartet was a steal of home on a play that eventually resulted in a balk. It was VMI's first steal of home since Graham Sullivan did it on March 9, 2009.
On the mound, starter Micah Gorman (1-1) picked up his first career win by going five innings. He allowed only Carroll's two-run home run through the first four frames but was touched for three additional runs in the fifth and wound up giving up five runs on six hits. Jones dropped to 0-2 with the loss for the Dukes on a JMU staff day.
With a crucial conference series starting Thursday at Western Carolina, head coach Jonathan Hadra went with an unusual lineup that included Peyton Maddox, Brian Dudeck Jr. and Gary LeClair, who had combined for just 25 at-bats all season. That squad fell behind early, when Gorman walked leadoff hitter Kevin Husum and, after a passed ball, Carroll hit a 1-1 pitch off the scoreboard for his fourth home run of the year and a 2-0 JMU lead.
VMI got one of those runs back in the bottom half, when Angus led off with a home run to right-center to make it 2-1. The Keydets next scored in the fourth, when Angus walked with one out and stole second. Jordan Tarsovich walked, his 98th career free pass, and David Geary was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Connerley then cleared them with a three-run triple to right-center to put VMI up, 4-2. Connerley would eventually come in to score on a wild pitch for a 5-2 Keydet advantage.
The Keydets added on in the fourth, and did so without a hit. Angus walked and stole second once again, and one out later, a wild pitch on a strikeout allowed him to score. Geary was caught stealing, but Connerley, Collin Fleischer and Maddox all walked to load the bases. Connerley then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-2 game.
The Dukes scored three in the fifth to draw within 7-5, but VMI opened things back up in the bottom half. LeClair walked and Drew Bryan reached when pitcher Eric Yankey threw wildly while fielding a sacrifice bunt attempt. Angus then reached on a fielder's choice and again stole second, and after Tarsovich was hit by a pitch, Thomas Stallings walked to force in a run. With Connerley at the plate, Angus broke for home and pitcher Yankey, flustered by the base-running, threw wildly and was charged with a balk. On the continuation, Angus was credited with a steal of home.
LeClair plated a run with an RBI single in the eighth, and the Dukes capped the scoring in the ninth with a single run off Taylor Edens to account for the final margin.
Offensively, no Keydet had a multi-hit day, but five VMI hitters drew two walks. That included Connerley, who scored two runs and drove in three more, and Angus, who scored four runs and drove in another. Connerley is now hitting .429 with seven extra-base hits over VMI's last six games.
Carroll went 3-for-4 to lead James Madison.
VMI baseball wraps up its regular season with a three-game series at Western Carolina. First pitch of the opener is set for 5 p.m. Thursday in Cullowhee, N.C.
Presbyterian 6, The Citadel 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Presbyterian got four consecutive two-out hits and scored five times in the top of the first, and three Blue Hose pitchers made the lead stand up in a 6-3 victory over The Citadel on Tuesday at Riley Park in the final nonconference game of the 2015 campaign.
The Bulldogs (23-27) head to Greenville, S.C., this weekend to face Furman in a three-game Southern Conference series that wraps up the regular season. The Citadel needs to sweep the Paladins in order to avoid playing in the opening round game of the SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties next week.
The win was the first in 18 games for Presbyterian (25-27) in Charleston dating back to 1965 when complete records are available. The Bulldogs were also denied their 20th home victory of the season and will have to win at least one game in the tournament to reach that plateau for the 16th time in 18 full seasons at Riley Park.
With two outs and a runner at first in the opening inning, Cam McRae beat out a grounder to third to keep the frame alive against starter Austin Livingston. Jacob Midkiff drove in two with a double, AJ Priaulx knocked in a third run with a two-base hit and Ryan Hedrick capped the uprising with a two-run homer.
The Bulldog bullpen held the Blue Hose in check the rest of the way, with six relievers combining to allow six hits and one unearned run with seven strikeouts over the final 8 1/3 innings. Kevin Connell and Jacob Watcher both went two innings, with Connell fanning three.
Steven Hansen began The Citadel comeback attempt with a solo homer in the second, Connor Walsh had an RBI single in the third and Hansen went deep again in the fourth to make it a three-run contest. Hansen's multiple-homer performance was the third in the past four games for the Bulldogs, with Walsh and Drew Ellis doing so in the opening game of the ETSU series on Friday.
Blue Hose starter David Sauer allowed eight hits and all three runs in five innings to raise his record to 5-4. After Russell Thompson worked a perfect sixth, Hayden Deal escaped a two-on jam in the seventh by striking out Walsh.
Deal allowed only one hit and two base runners in his 2 1/3 innings on the mound to pick up his third save of the year.
Appalachian State 5, ETSU 4
BOONE, N.C. – Despite leading 4-0 in the seventh inning and taking a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, ETSU couldn’t hold on as Bradley Morton hit a game-tying two-run home run and Zach Hummel’s walk-off triple scored Dylan Hamel, lifting Appalachian State to a 5-4 win over the Buccaneers on Tuesday night at Smith Stadium.
Senior Zach Thompson belted his first collegiate home run in his 352nd career at-bat in the top of the fourth, while Jordan Sanford’s RBI groundout in the sixth put the Bucs up, 4-0, but the Mountaineers scored five unanswered runs – capped with three in the bottom of the ninth – finishing with a walk-off win for their third straight home finale.
Junior Lee Haeberle and sophomore Jamin McCann combined for five scoreless innings to start the game, while freshman southpaw Aaron Maher made his season debut on the mound, allowing one run on two hits in two innings of work. Haeberle got the start for the Blue and Gold and held the Mountaineers to a pair of hits and four strikeouts in three innings, and McCann limited Appalachian State to one hit in his two innings of relief. However, junior Josh Jacques was tagged for a run on three hits in 2/3 of inning, while redshirt freshman Dillon Cate suffered the loss (3-3) after issuing the three ninth-inning runs.
Thompson and Jeremy Taylor combined for four of ETSU’s 10 hits, marking the 27th time this season the Bucs have registered double-digit hits. To go with his first collegiate homer, Thompson also reached on a bunt single, while Taylor went 2-for-5 to extend his streak of reaching base to 27 consecutive games. Chris Cook and Sanford had the other two RBIs for the Blue and Gold.
ETSU, who was looking to sweep the season series for the first time since 2011, suffered its fourth straight setback and moved to 19-33, while Appalachian State ended its season at 17-36.
The Bucs jumped ahead in the top of the third as the first three hitters reached via singles and went up, 1-0, when Cook’s fielder’s choice RBI groundout scored Christian Bailey; however, the Mountaineers limited the damage to the lone run as Taylor – who reached on a bunt single – was caught stealing third and Trey York flew out to center to end the frame.
ETSU’s pitching staff was zoned in as it took a shutout into the seventh, while the Bucs’ offense pushed across two in the fourth on Thompson’s home run to right and Sanford’s RBI groundout an inning later scored York, making it a 4-0 score.
But after their strong start, the Buccaneer hurlers couldn’t hold the four-run lead and ETSU’s offense was held to four hits in the final five innings.
The shutout bid was snapped in the bottom of the seventh when Conner Leonard worked a one-out walk and scored on Morton’s two-out double to left-center, while Appalachian State pulled within two in the eighth, 4-2, but for the time being, Cate took care of business on the mound and got out of a jam. Following an RBI double by Michael Pierson, the Mountaineers had the tying run at second, but Cate got Leonard out swinging to end the frame, keeping ETSU’s two-run lead intact.
After the Bucs left a runner stranded at second in the ninth, the Mountaineers used their late-inning heroics to finish the comeback.
Noah Holmes led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple to right and trotted home on Morton’s blast to left, and following a one-out walk to Hamel, Taylor had trouble locating the ball in left-center – resulting in the walk-off triple by Hummel.
Travis Holden tossed a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win (2-4), while the last three Mountaineer relievers combined for three scoreless frames and two strikeouts.
Morton finished with three hits and three RBIs to lead Appalachian State at the plate.
The Blue and Gold wrap up regular-season play this weekend when ETSU hosts Wofford in a three-game set starting Friday night at Thomas Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.
Alabama 5, Mercer 3
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Mercer University baseball team dropped its final nonconference test of the year, falling to Alabama, 5-3, on Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium.
The Bears’ offense was held below 10 hits for the first time in their last eight contests, finishing with eight on the night. Devin Bonin and Jackson Ware each had two hits to pace the team, while Danny Edgeworth reached base in three of his four trips to the plate, including an eighth-inning double.
DJ Johnson was tagged with the loss after giving up one run in two innings on the mound. The Bears sent seven pitchers to the mound in the contest, as the unit held the Crimson Tide below their season average for both hits and runs.
Mercer jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to back-to-back doubles. Nate Moorhouse started the rally with his 11th double of the season, before scoring one batter later on Howard Joe’s two-bagger down the right-field line.
Alabama used a pair of two-out hits to answer in the bottom of the third, scoring three times in the frame to grab its first lead of the game. Georgie Salem broke up the Bears’ shutout bid with an RBI single up the middle before Casey Hughston’s two-run single to right field handed the Crimson Tide a 3-1 advantage.
Mercer put its first two runners aboard to open up the fourth, before back-to-back RBIs from Moorhouse and Joe knotted the game at 3-3.
However, Alabama would regain the lead, 4-3, in the home half on Will Haynie’s run-scoring single. The Crimson Tide added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on Hughston’s second RBI of the night to grab a 5-3 advantage.
Mercer put runners in scoring position in each of the final three innings but was unable to cut into the deficit.
The Bears will close out Southern Conference play this weekend, as they host Samford for a three-game series with SoCon regular-season title implications at Claude Smith Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.
Clemson 23, Furman 15
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Chris Okey homered twice and drove in five runs and Clemson overcame a 10-0 third-inning deficit to race past Furman, 23-15, in baseball action at Fluor Field on Tuesday.
The win improved Clemson to 28-25, while Furman lost for the fifth time in its last six outings to fall to 23-29.
The Tigers feasted on Furman’s bullpen in its comeback, combining 21 hits with 13 walks, two hit batsmen and five wild pitches to outscore the Paladins 23-5 over the final seven innings.
Eleven Paladin pitchers combined to throw 282 pitches in the game, only 143 of which were strikes. The game took four hours and 42 minutes to play.
Okey went 3-for-6 and ignited Clemson’s comeback with a three-run home run in the third inning. His solo home run to start the sixth pulled to the Tigers to within three at 11-8, and he stroked an RBI single and scored in the Tigers’ eight-run seventh inning that gave Clemson a 19-12 lead.
Reed Rohlman had a two-run double in a 2-for-4, four-RBI performance, and Tyler Krieger went 4-for-6, drove in three runs and scored twice to headline Clemson’s 22-hit attack. Eli White, Steven Duggar, and Weston Wilson and Tyler Slaton scored three runs apiece.
Brandon Elmy led Furman, going 4-for-5 with a three-run home run, two doubles and five RBIs to lead the Paladins, who finished with 12 hits.
Furman tallied three runs in the first and seven more in the second to grab a 10-0 lead and chase Clemson starting pitcher Clate Schmidt after only 1 1/3 innings. A pair of Tiger errors in the first helped the Paladins get on the board, and in the second, Elmy’s three-run home run to left-center field, his third clout in the last two games, staked Furman to the 10-run advantage.
Furman’s Ryan Griffith, making the first start of his career, worked only two innings before giving way to the Paladin bullpen, which was tagged for all 23 Clemson runs.
Okey’s three-run blast to left field off Furman’s Will Dvorak began the comeback, which saw the Tigers tally runs in each of the final seven innings.
Rohlman’s two-out, two-run single in the fourth off Paladin reliever Steven Fondu made it a 10-5 game.
After Elmy’s RBI double in the fourth put the Paladins up 11-5, the Tigers continued their onslaught with Krieger’s two-run single in the fifth before tying it with four runs in the sixth, keyed by Okey’s leadoff home run, his second of the contest.
Furman plated an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 12-11, but it didn’t last as the Tigers posted an eight-run seventh, keyed by Duggar’s two-run triple, to take control with 19-12 advantage.
Pat Krall (2-3) earned the victory, the beneficiary of Clemson’s eight-run seventh. He worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball and struck out two.
The loss was charged to Elliott Warford (4-3), who was victimized for five runs on four hits in the Tigers’ eight-run eighth.
Furman opens a three-game SoCon series on Thursday at Latham Stadium.