LEXINGTON, Va.? Sophomore righthander Chris Henderson retired the final 11 batters he faced to hurl his second complete game of the season, as VMI took the rubber game of the weekend series against UNC Asheville by a 5-3 count on Sunday afternoon. The victory is VMI's 31st of the season, establishing a new school record for single-season wins for the fourth time in five seasons.
Henderson (Fredericksburg, Va./Colonial Forge) improved to 5-2 on the season by allowing only three runs, two earned, notching four strikeouts and scattering seven hits, all singles, as VMI ran their overall mark to 31-14 and 7-8 in the Big South. Chris Nigro (2-4) took the loss for the Bulldogs, surrendering five runs, four earned, in 6.2 innings, as UNCA fell to 18-31, 8-10 in the League.
The bottom of the Keydet order came through with the big knocks, as Brian Sandridge scored a pair of runs, one on his third home run of the season, while recording nine putouts in centerfield and going 2-for-4 at the plate. Tanner Biagini collected a pair of doubles, scoring a run and driving one home. Robert Crumpler went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, while Mike Roberts did the same while going 1-for-3. The Bulldogs saw Steve Burnich and Edmond Locklear each notch a pair of hits in the game, while Rob Vernon and Kyle Smith each drove home a run.
“I thought that we started off slow offensively, but I was proud of some early at bats by Tanner Biagini and Brian Sandridge,” said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. “Brian had a great day out in centerfield for only his second time playing out there this year. Robert Crumpler did a great job of playing offense when he needed to. I can't say enough about Henderson's complete game. He is not normally a guy that looks to go that long, but he had dominating pitches today and was really on top of his game. It's great to see our guys respond to yesterday's loss and come back out to win the series.”
With neither team able to scratch across anything in the first inning, each offense saw an error go for naught in the second. Burnich led off the third inning with a single into leftfield, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the attempt by Roberts behind the plate. After a base knock by Vernon gave UNCA the 1-0 lead, Roberts redeemed himself by throwing out Vernon to end the inning.
Biagini tagged the first pitch of the third inning off of the rightfield wall before advancing to third base on the first of four wild pitches in the game by Nigro. Crumpler then knotted the game at 1-1 with his single into leftfield, but Van Es followed by grounding into a double play to end the Keydet rally.
After Henderson escaped the top of the fourth with the Keydets turning a double play of their own, Roberts led off the bottom of the inning with a single through the left-side of the infield. After Sandridge beat out an infield single to put runners at the corners, Ryan Litz gave VMI a one-run advantage on a sacrifice fly, before Biagini plated Sandridge to make it a 3-1 contest with another two-bagger, this time to centerfield.
The teams traded unearned runs in the fifth, with Locklear scoring on a fielding error by Van Es in rightfield on a single by Burnich, while Crumpler came around to make the score 4-2 on a flyball hit to deep centerfield by Van Es that went off of the glove of Kevin Mattison.
The sixth saw Henderson fight through his worst inning of the day, hitting Vernon to lead off the inning before issuing his lone walk of the afternoon. Smith's single up the middle plated Vernon to cut the margin to 4-3, but that was the last baserunner the righthander would allow the rest of the way.
Sandridge led off the bottom of the sixth with his second home run in Conference play, hitting it off of the light pole beyond the left-centerfield wall. Nigro recovered to set down five of the next six batters he faced before leaving the contest in favor of Michael Bogaert, who allowed only a leadoff double to Jacoby Fields in the eighth inning while recording the final four outs.
Henderson wrapped things up from there, with his complete-game effort joining his five-inning shutout effort against Coppin State two weeks previous.
The Keydets now break for exams and next return to action on Wednesday, May 9, when Virginia Tech comes to town for a 7 p.m. start at Gray-Minor Stadium.
