Will Connerley, Matt Winn and Jordan Tarsovich all homered to back Austin Heenan’s best start of his career as the VMI Keydets defeated the UNCG Spartans, 11-3, in the opener of a three-game SoCon series contested Friday in Lexington, Va.
UNCG (21-23, 11-11 SoCon) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but that advantage did not last long. Ray Lopez and Jordan Tarsovich walked to start the Keydet first, and David Geary followed with a ground ball to first base that UNCG’s Aaron Wright threw into left field to allow a run to score. One out later, Tarsovich scored on a sacrifice fly foul out off the bat of Collin Fleischer and Connerley followed with a two-run shot to give the Keydets the lead for good. VMI (16-26, 9-10 SoCon) would score 10 unanswered runs before the teams traded eighth-inning runs to account for the final margin.
The other story of the day was Heenan (1-6), who went a career-long 7 1/3 innings and scattered eight hits. He allowed three earned runs, two of which came in the first inning, and walked and struck out two apiece. Ryan Clark (6-6) took the loss after allowing nine runs, only four of which were earned, in six innings. The Keydets took full advantage of five UNCG errors, including two by first baseman Wright, to score six unearned runs.
After VMI took a two-run lead in the first, the Keydets added on in the third. An infield hit by Matt Winn extended the inning, and Collin Fleischer and Connerley had RBI hits to make it a 6-2 contest.
The Keydets broke it open in the fifth, when Geary led off with a walk and Winn launched the first pitch from Clark over the right-center field wall for his 12th home run of the year and an 8-2 Keydet lead. A dropped throw by Wright then allowed another Keydet run to score as the margin ballooned to 9-2.
A RBI bunt hit by Brandon Angus off reliever Julian Abreu gave the Keydets a 10-2 cushion in the seventh. Wright then wrapped up the UNCG scoring with a solo home run off Heenan in the eighth, two batters before the Keydet bullpen entered the game. Jack Gomersall and Kyle Staats combined to retire all five hitters they faced, and Tarsovich accounted for the final margin with a solo home run in the eighth.
Offensively, Connerley led the way with a 3 for 3, two runs scored and three-RBI game. Five different Keydets scored two runs in the win. Zac MacAneney went 2 for 5 to pace UNCG.
With the three home runs, the 2015 squad tied the 1997 club for fifth on the all-time program listing with 48 home runs in a season.
VMI baseball will return to action Saturday, when the series with UNCG resumes at Gray-Minor Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
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Chris Graham
