JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – East Tennessee State University (ETSU) defeated the VMI baseball team 10-4 Sunday in the final game of a three-game Southern Conference series from Thomas Stadium.
VMU led in all three games of the series and took a 1-0 advantage in the second inning of Sunday's contest on a home run by catcher Cole Barrett.
The Bucs opened a 5-1 lead after scoring three runs in the third and one each in the fourth and fifth. The Keydets had a chance for a big inning in the sixth, as
Zac Morris walked and
Reeves Whitmore and Garrett followed with singles to load the bases with no outs,
Jed Barrett drew a bases loaded walk to cut the lead to 5-2, but a double play ball and a strikeout limited the damage.
Cook led off the seventh with a triple and scored on a
Will Knight groundout to make it a 5-3 game, but ETSU broke it open with five in the eighth. Knight homered in the ninth.
Garrett finished 3-4 on the afternoon and Cook had two hits, was hit by a pitch and stole a base. Swaim and
Trey Morgan each had a hit and a walk and Barrett drew two walks.
Tommy Barth went 2-4 with a home run and four RBI for ETSU (24-12/6-3 SoCon). Bryce Hodge and Noah Webb also homered.
VMI (12-29/3-6 SoCon) is back in conference action this weekend at home with a three-game series against Western Carolina University in Gray-Minor Stadium.
