Callen Nuccio, Josh Hollifield and Will Knight each had three hits Friday evening to lead the VMI baseball team to a 10-4 win at Furman University in the first game of a Southern Conference series.
The Keydets took a 3-2 lead in the fifth off a double from Hollifield and broke the game open late. After two runs in the seventh pushed the lead to 5-2, Knight singled in the eighth to make it a 6-3 game. VMI added four in the top of the ninth, three on a Nuccio triple.
Jacob Menders earned the win on the hill to up his record to 3-4 on the season. The junior right-hander allowed nine hits and three earned runs over 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. Junior Derek Tremblay pitched the final 2 2/3 frames to pick up the save. He entered the game in the bottom of the seventh with two on and one out and VMI clinging to a 5-3 lead. Tremblay induced a 6-4-3 double play from the first batter he faced to squash the threat.
Nuccio was 3-5 with three runs scored and three RBI, while Hollifield was also 3-5 with two doubles and two RBI. Jake Huggins went 2-4 with two walks and Cody Warner was 2-2 and scored twice. Ryan Hatten drilled his eighth home run of the season.
David Webel was 3-5 for Furman (18-27/7-9 SoCon). VMI improves to 14-33 overall and 8-11 in conference action.
The two teams will face off again Saturday at 1 p.m.
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