Ninth-inning VMI rally comes up short in 5-4 loss at Richmond

The VMI Keydets put the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth inning, but could not complete the rally by getting them home as the Richmond Spiders hung on for a dramatic 5-4 win in NCAA baseball action Wednesday night at Richmond’s Pitt Field.

After Richmond (4-0) had taken a 5-2 lead with two runs in the seventh, the Keydets (0-4) got one in the eighth and put runners at the corners with one out in the ninth, thanks to a Matt Winn hit by pitch and a Jordan Tarsovich single off UR reliever Dylan Stoops. Ray Lopez got a run home with a sacrifice fly, and Brandon Diamond walked to get Tarsovich, the tying run, to second base. Stoops, however, struck out Berkley Hawkins swinging on a 1-2 pitch to end the game.

TJ Lighton took the loss despite pitching well into the fifth inning. Lighton (0-1) went four-plus frames in his first collegiate start, allowing two earned runs (three total) on five hits. He struck out one and did not walk a batter. Ryan Donnelly (1-0) was the winner for Richmond, throwing an inning of relief and allowing one hit, while Stoops picked up his first save.

“Our guys really competed well today,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “I thought TJ Lighton threw the ball well, we got some key extra-base hits and our bullpen, with Andrew Montague, Miles McQuaig and John Garrett, had a solid day too. We just needed to get one more key, two-out hit, but this was a good midweek college baseball game and we battled the whole way.”

With Lighton allowing only a single through the first three innings, the game was scoreless until VMI jumped ahead in the fourth, when Rob Dickinson’s single scored Ray Lopez to make it 1-0, Keydets. UR was kept off the board in the fourth, and the Keydets missed an opportunity in the fifth. The first two runners reached base – Brandon Angus on a bunt single and Winn on an error. Thomas Stallings then tried to bunt them up 90 feet, but popped into a double play to retire himself and Winn, ending the rally.

The Spiders took the lead in the bottom half, as after a leadoff single, four straight hitters reached without the ball leaving the infield. An error, a fielder’s choice with no out recorded and two infield hits scored two runs and ended Lighton’s day. Andrew Montague relieved and wriggled out of trouble, allowing only a sacrifice fly that made it a 3-1 contest. The Keydets got a run back in the sixth, cutting it to 3-2 on a single by Dickinson that scored Red Dowdell.

Richmond then pushed its lead to 5-2 in the seventh, when a single by Jansen Fraser plated two runs. VMI came right back in the eighth, however, thanks to a two-out rally. Dickinson walked on a 3-2 pitch, and Dwyer lined a 1-0 pitch into the right-center gap, scoring the Keydet center fielder to make it a 5-3 contest. That set the stage for VMI’s dramatic rally in the ninth.

Offensively, Dickinson led the Keydets by going 2 for 3 with a walk and two RBI, while Hawkins finished 2 for 5 on the afternoon. This marked the third consecutive game between VMI and UR that was decided by one run or less, following VMI’s one-run victory last year and 2011’s 6-6 tie in Richmond.

Bret Williams and Nick Poulos had two hits apiece for Richmond.

VMI baseball will return to action this weekend, hosting Buffalo and Maryland Eastern-Shore in the first regular season tournament in Gray-Minor Stadium history. Action is currently scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., with VMI’s first game set for a 4 p.m. start Friday.