A nine-run 10th inning blew open a tied game and sent the VMI Keydets past the Richmond Spiders, 11-2, in non-conference baseball action Wednesday in Richmond, Va. The win extended VMI’s (19-17) win streak to five straight games, while the Spiders dropped to 19-16.
The game was tied at two from the fourth inning until the 10th, but Callen Nuccio – much as was the case last weekend against Western Carolina – was in the middle of the decisive rally.
He was hit by a pitch to start the 10th and then scored on a wild pitch, breaking the tie, and the Keydets went on to score a season-high nine times in the inning with just one extra base hit. Five different players drove in runs and eight of VMI’s nine offensive players scored.
The beneficiary of the offensive output was Corey Johnston (3-0), who picked up the win after pitching a shutout ninth in relief of Brandon Barbery, who pitched seven innings of two-run ball.
Reliever Lowell Schipper was charged with five of the nine runs in the 10th, and dropped to 0-2.
A homer by D.J. Lee and a RBI single for Justin Cook gave UR an early 2-0 lead, but Collin Fleischer tied it with a historic two-run shot in the fourth. The long ball was the 41st homer of Fleischer’s college career, tying him with Jordan Ballard for the all-time Keydet record. That was the score until the Keydets exploded for their biggest inning of the year in the 10th.
Offensively, Fleischer led the way for the Keydets by going 3 for 5 with four RBI. Cook had the lone multi-hit game for UR, posting two hits.
VMI baseball will return to action Friday, when the Keydets open a three-game series against Furman at Gray-Minor Stadium at 6 p.m.
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