Zak Kent tied a school record Sunday as the VMI baseball team defeated visiting Lehigh University 11-1 in non-conference play. The junior right-hander struck out 15 batters, tying the program record for strikeouts in a single game in the aluminum bat era (a mark set in 1998).
The Mountain Hawks first batter of the game flew out; Kent’s next 11 recorded outs were via strikeout. He fanned eight-straight players before Lehigh grounded out to start the top of the fifth. For day, Kent finished seven frames, giving up just one hit, one walk, and one run while tossing 103 pitches to even his record at 2-2 on the year and improve his ERA to 4.11.
VMI loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, and Matt Keane and Callen Nuccio each drew walks to give the Keydets a 2-0 lead. Josh Hollifield, Don Goodes and Cody Warner each doubled in a three-run third inning to make the lead 5-0. Following a Lehigh run in the fifth, VMI put the game out of reach with five runs in the sixth.
A total of six Keydets had two hits on the afternoon: Noah Cook, Jake Huggins, Hollifield, Goodes, Will Knight and Warner. Cook laced a two-run triple in the sixth inning, and Goodes and Warner also contributed two RBI. Hollifield scored three times and Huggins and Knight had two runs each.
Derek Tremblay and Jon Clines each threw scoreless innings of relief.
Lehigh falls to 7-8 with the loss.
VMI (4-15) hosts Radford University Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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Chris Graham
