The Western Carolina Catamounts hit five home runs and never trailed en route to a 7-1 win over the VMI Keydets in the opener of a three-game SoCon series, contested Friday night at Gray-Minor Stadium in Lexington.
Second-inning home runs for Matt Smith and Kramer Ferrell were all Western (15-13, 6-1 SoCon) would need, but the visiting Catamounts tacked on two more in the third and notched a three-spot in the seventh to account for their scoring. The Keydets (16-18, 1-6) threatened throughout, as they left 18 runners on base in the loss. VMI had four chances with the bases loaded in the contest and scored just one run, that coming on a third-inning Jacob Jaye ground ball.
Dylan Biumi picked up the win in relief for WCU (1-0), as he relieved starter Brendan Nail in the fifth inning. Matthew Eagle (5-3) took the loss as the Keydet starter, as he gave up four runs – three of which were earned – in 4 1/3 innings.
After the two home runs in the second, a sacrifice fly for Nobu Suzuki and Bowman’s first home run of the game made it 4-0 headed to the bottom of the third. The Keydets broke through on Jaye’s groundout, but that was all VMI would get the rest of the way, despite loading the bases in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings.
WCU capped the scoring in the seventh, when J.D. Long hit a solo shot and Bowman launched his second of the night, both off MicahGorman, to account for the final margin.
Offensively, Bowman’s two home runs led the way for Western, while Geary went 2 for 5 and was the only Keydet to post a multi-hit game.
VMI baseball will return to action Sunday, when the Keydets and Catamounts wrap up their series with a doubleheader starting at noon.
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