ASHEVILLE, N.C.- #8 VMI pounded out 13 runs on 21 hits to claim its first Big South Championship victory, knocking out #5 Gardner-Webb, 13-4, in a single-elimination contest on Tuesday evening at McCormick Field. The Keydets advance to the main, double-elimination portion of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, facing top-seeded Coastal Carolina on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The top four hitters in the Keydet lineup combined to go 14-for-21 with 10 runs scored, led by a 5-for-6 outing from Jordan Ballard, who also scored four runs for VMI. Tanner Biagini was 4-for-5, while A.J. Yoder's three hits gave him the VMI single-season hits record, now with 77 this season. Sam Roberts completed the run, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and a pair of walks.
Keydet starting pitcher Travis Smink (8-4) worked seven innings, allowing just two runs, one earned, on six hits. The left-hander punched out seven in scoring his 17th career victory, moving him into second place by himself on VMI's career wins list. The loss went to GWU starter Brett Stackhouse (5-6), who worked two-plus innings, allowing five runs, three earned.
“Travis Smink did an unbelievable job on the mound tonight," said VMI head coach Marlin Ikenberry. "He got out of a couple of jams early, and that was big for us. I was proud of how well we played and how hard we competed. Our level of concentration was outstanding all night. We have shown signs of this all year, but it was great to see it all come together tonight. A.J. Yoder and Tanner Biagini did a great job of setting the table, and Sam Roberts and Jordan Ballard brought them home all night. We put the pressure on them in the third inning, they threw the bunt away, and it really opened up from there. It's great to get our first win in the Big South Tournament.”
The Bulldogs (25-25) moved on top in the first inning, scoring an unearned run when Kurt Fulginiti plated Brock Miller with a single into center field. The Keydets (18-33) broke through in the third inning, sending 10 men to the plate. Roberts' double into right field tied the score at one, before Ballard delivered a two-run knock to put the Keydets on top for good. Two batters later with runners at first and second base, Graham Sullivan dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Stackhouse came on and fielded the bunt but threw errantly to third base, allowing two more runs to score, bringing the margin to 5-1.
VMI made it an 8-1 advantage in the fourth, as eight men batted against reliever Jonathan Ban. Sullivan drew a bases-loaded walk to push the margin to five runs, followed by RBI singles from Justin Topping and Brian Sandridge.
Tyler Johnson led off the bottom of the fifth with a double into right field, which ended up as the only extra-base hit in Smink's seven innings. Johnson scored two batters later on Daniel Cooke's safety into right field. VMI answered that run in the sixth, when Sullivan plated Ballard with a base knock into right field.
The Keydets poured on four more runs in the seventh before GWU capped the scoring on a two-run home run by Ty Boyles off of Keydet reliever Michael Devine.
VMI's 13 runs are the most by the Keydets in the postseason since scoring 13 against Appalachian State in the SoCon Tournament on April 28, 1995. VMI also snaps a six-game losing streak in the Big South Baseball Tournament, having gone 0-6 since first appearing in the League's postseason event in 2005.
