VMI baseball edges Citadel in series opener, 8-7

The VMI Keydets jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and staved off a rally by The Citadel Bulldogs to capture the opener of a three-game series, 8-7, in SoCon baseball action contested Friday at Charleston, S.C.’s Riley Park.

The Keydets (13-22, 6-7 SoCon) jumped on The Citadel’s ace, James Reeves, for four runs in the first inning and two more in the second, but a five-run fourth inning by the Bulldogs (18-22, 3-10) would tie the game. Four Keydet middle relievers held The Citadel to one hit over a four-inning span, allowing VMI to retake a two-run lead with single runs in the sixth and eighth. The home team managed an unearned run against Taylor Edens in the eighth, but could not overcome the Keydet lead as VMI won its fourth straight game in the series between the schools.

The story of the game was the Keydet middle relievers – Jack Gomersall, Kyle Staats and TJ Lighton combined to allow just one hit and one walk over four innings. Gomersall entered in the fourth and worked two innings for the win, moving to 2-1, while Lighton’s shutout inning in the seventh was his first appearance since May 17, 2013.

Zach Lavery (0-3) allowed one run on three hits over 1 1/3 innings to take the loss for The Citadel, while Taylor Edens became just the second Keydet to ever record double-digit saves in a single season by posting his 10th of the year.

Offensively, the Keydets pounded out 14 hits and were led by a three-hit, three-RBI game from Tyler Tharp, while Matt Winn extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Jacob Watcher had three hits for Citadel.

A four-run first inning for the Keydets included three hit batters and a walk. Tharp, Collin Fleischer and Jordan Tarsovich drove in the runs for the visitors, who then scored twice more in the third. A two-run single for Brandon Angus made it a 6-0 game, but Reeves was able to complete the inning and worked a 1-2-3 fourth, helping his Bulldogs get back in the game.

A single run in the third made it 6-1, and the Bulldogs tied the game in the fourth. The first five hitters reached against Austin Heenan, including a RBI walk by Johnathan Stokes and a wild pitch that scored another run. The five-hitter stretch was capped by Connor Walsh’s two-run single that knocked the Keydet starter out of the game with the lead cut to one, 6-5. Gomersall relieved and after an error, a pop-out and a hit batter loaded the bases again, he walked in a run to tie the score, 6-6. Tarsovich then made a spectacular play on a ground ball behind the bag at second base, making a backhand flip to Thomas Stallings to start a 6-4-3 double play that ended the threat.

The Keydet middle relief settled down after that, and VMI retook the lead in the sixth. David Geary had a ground-rule double with one out and Winn followed with a RBI single, making it a 7-6 contest. That was the score until the eighth, when the Keydets put together a two-out rally. Geary singled and Winn followed with one as well. Tharp then singled to left, scoring Geary to make it an 8-6 contest, and that run proved critical.

Edens relieved to start the eighth and induced a ground ball to third from Watcher, but Geary overthrew first for a two-base error. Stokes capitalized with a RBI single later in the inning, cutting the lead to one, but Edens set down the final five hitters he faced to join Kevin Crum (2007) as the only Keydets with double-digit saves in a single season.

Neither starting pitcher figured in the decision, as Reeves gave up six runs on seven hits over four innings, while Heenan was knocked out after three frames after giving up six runs and eight hits.

VMI baseball will return to action Saturday, when the Keydets take on The Citadel in a game that is now scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.