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Keydets Win Opener of VCU Series, 6-2 |
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Written by media relations
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Friday, 05 April 2013 21:31 |
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LEXINGTON, Va. – Connor Bach pitched into the eighth inning and Matt Winn continued his torrid hitting by going 3 for 3 with two runs scored, leading the VMI Keydets over the VCU Rams, 6-2, in non-conference baseball action Friday night at Gray-Minor Stadium in Lexington, Va. The game was the opener of the first weekend series ever contested between the teams.
Friday’s contest was never truly in doubt, as the Keydets (15-18) jumped on VCU (14-13) starter Heath Dwyer for five runs in the third inning, including a three-run home run by Rob Dickinson, his fifth long ball of the year. That was all Bach would need, as the Rams could muster only two runs in the fifth inning against the junior left-hander. A Winn single would spark a two-out VMI rally in the bottom of the inning, leading to an insurance run that accounted for the final score, 6-2.
Bach’s seven innings of work saw him allow just two runs, both of which were earned, on five hits and a single walk. He struck out five in moving to 2-2 on the year. Dwyer took the loss to drop to 4-4, as he went the whole way for the visitors and allowed all six runs, doing so on eight hits and three free passes. Dwyer struck out seven.
Offensively, Winn’s 3 for 3 night included his 10th double and extended his streak of reaching base to 17 straight games. Over the last 10 games, the Keydet catcher is hitting a startling .483 with six doubles and an on-base percentage of .583.
The Keydets had the game’s first threat in the second inning, when Winn led off with a double. Sheldon Shifflett bunted him to third, but Brandon Angus followed with a high chopper to third. Joey Cujas fielded the ball cleanly and threw home in time to easily retire Winn for the second out. Angus made it to second on a subsequent balk, but Thomas Stallings struck out to end the inning.
VCU got a man to second with one out in the third, but could not get him home and the Keydets struck in the bottom half. With one out, Ray Lopez tripled into the right field corner and Jordan Tarsovich walked. Will Connerley then hit a high chopper deep in the shortstop hole that went for an infield single, scoring Lopez, and Dickinson followed by drilling a 0-1 pitch over the right field wall for a three-run home run, giving the Keydets a 4-0 lead. Winn then singled, and one out later, Angus hit a hard ground ball into right field for a RBI single, scoring Winn and making it a 5-0 contest.
VCU again got a man into scoring position with one out in the fourth, but could not score him as Bach held the Rams without a hit over the first four frames. Jordan Weymouth broke up the no-hitter to lead off the fifth, and one out later, Nick Octavi singled. Bill Cullen flied out, but James Bunn hammered a two-out double into the left center field gap, scoring both runners and cutting the Keydet margin to 5-2.
VMI got one of those runs back in the bottom half, when Winn singled with two outs. Shifflett followed with a single, and Dwyer promptly uncorked consecutive wild pitches, allowing Winn to score and the Keydets to increase their lead to 6-2.
Dwyer would not allow a hit the rest of the way, but Bach and two relievers held the VCU offense at bay and got help from VMI defense as well. The Keydet starter allowed a single to lead off the eighth, which ended his night and brought on Reed Garrett, who induced a two-hopper to Stallings’ backhand side at third base. Stallings started a 5-4-3 double play with a quick backhand grab and throw to second baseman Drew Bryan, who snagged the low toss and completed the turn for the twin killing.
John Garrett came in to pitch the ninth, and after a leadoff infield hit, got a ground ball to first baseman Cameron Walter. Walter stepped on first and threw a strike to second base, where shortstop Nick Dwyer put the tag down for the unconventional double play that would quell VCU’s final hopes of a rally.
In addition to Winn, the Keydets got three RBI from Dickinson on his home run, a hit that tied him with Jacob Morley ’12 for seventh on VMI’s all-time hit list. Bunn and Mikionis had two hits apiece for VCU.
VMI baseball will return to action Saturday, as the Keydets and VCU tangle in game two of their series. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
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VMI Pulls Away to Top James Madison Baseball 9-7 |
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Written by media relations
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Thursday, 04 April 2013 03:30 |
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LEXINGTON, Va., April 2, 2013 – VMI broke a 5-5 tie by scoring on a wild pitch in the sixth and padded the lead with three in the seventh to pull away for a 9-7 victory over James Madison in a non-conference baseball game on Tuesday evening at Gray-Minor Stadium.
VMI improved to 14-17 while JMU dropped its fourth game in a row to fall to 14-13 overall.
Center fielder Rob Dickinson, designated hitter Sheldon Shifflett and second baseman Thomas Stallings each had two of the 11 hits for the Keydets. Shifflett had two of the squad’s five doubles while scoring twice and driving in two.
Reliever Reed Garrett earned the win to improve to 2-3 despite allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with four walks in 2 2/3 innings. Freshman Ben Garner (Burke, Va./Paul VI) limited the Keydets to an unearned run on two hits in 3 2/3 innings but took the loss to fall to 0-2.
JMU’s top two batters reached base five times apiece as senior center fielder Johnny Bladel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk two hit by pitches and three runs scored while junior third baseman Ty McFarland (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) singled in two at bats with three walks.
Bladel extended his hitting streak to 15 games and is batting .509 with a .658 on-base percentage during the streak. His current .550 on-base percentage at the halfway point of the season would rank second in JMU history while his .471 career mark would tie for fourth.
The Dukes also got a home run, two RBIs and two walks from senior outfielder Colby Roberts (Benton, Ark./Benton) and two RBIs from senior outfielder Cole McInturff (Centreville, Va./Westfield). The Dukes stranded 12 runners in the game and hit into two double plays.
JMU grabbed the lead in the first as Roberts reached on an error with two outs while plating Bladel, who had extended his streak with a leadoff double. However, VMI countered with five in the third. Will Connerley’s RBI double knotted the score and Dickinson’s single gave the Keydets the lead. Shifflett drove in two with the first of his two doubles and Brandon Angus added an RBI single.
The Dukes fought back to tie the score with two runs in the fourth on Roberts’ solo home run to right and sophomore Tyler Duke’s (Troutville, Va./James River) RBI bunt along with two in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk of McFarland and an infield single by McInturff. However, JMU left the bases loaded in both innings as well as having a runner retired at the plate in the sixth.
A passed ball and a sacrifice bunt helped push the go-ahead run to third base in the sixth for VMI, setting the stage for a wild pitch to plate the unearned run against Garner. The Keydets added three in the seventh, ignited by back-to-back doubles from Shifflett and catcher Matt Winn. Thomas Stallings added an RBI single and Drew Bryan drove in the final run on a groundout.
JMU scored twice in the eighth on an RBI double by junior first baseman Matt Tenaglia (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) and a sacrifice fly by McInturff, but Madison stranded two in the inning and couldn’t get anything going in the ninth.
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Keydets Come Up Just Short Against #4 Virginia, 8-6 |
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Written by media relations
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Thursday, 04 April 2013 00:12 |
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The #4 Virginia Cavaliers scored unearned runs in the sixth and eighth innings that proved to be the difference, as they edged the VMI Keydets, 8-6, in a non-conference contest Wednesday night at Davenport Field in Charlottesville, Va.
VMI (14-18) had battled back from a three-run deficit to pull within one, 6-5, after RBI hits by Thomas Stallings and Drew Bryan in the sixth, but a two-out walk to Virginia (27-3) catcher Nate Irving started a UVA rally in the bottom half. The next batter, Branden Cogswell, hit a bouncing ball back to pitcher Taylor Edens. The ball deflected off Edens’ glove for an error, and the next hitter, Jared King, drove home Irving with a double to left for the eventual winning run. The Keydets cut the margin back to one in the eighth, but a two-out RBI single by Brandon Downes in the bottom half provided an insurance run and accounted for the final score, 8-6.
The Keydets pounded out 11 hits against the #4 team in the country, and saw four hitters notch two hits apiece, including Matt Winn, who reached base for the 16th straight game by going 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Rob Dickinson added two hits and with them, pulled within one of Jacob Morley ’12 for seventh on the all-time VMI hit list.
Nick Howard went 3 for 4 to lead the home team.
VMI jumped ahead with two outs in the first against UVA starter Trey Oest. Dickinson laced a single down the right field line, and Sheldon Shifflett followed with a long drive to right center that went for a triple, and gave the Keydets a 1-0 lead. The home team answered with three in the bottom half against Keydet starter Lucas Cash, but the visitors got a sacrifice fly from Thomas Stallings in the second and Dickinson’s fourth home run of the year, coming in the third inning, to tie the contest at 3-apiece.
The Cavaliers struck for three more in the third to take the lead for good. Mike Papi singled to drive in the first run, and the next batter, Kenny Towns, hit a ground ball to shortstop that appeared to be a tailor-made double play. The ball was misplayed for an error, however, allowing a second run to score, and UVA added a third score on a double play groundout later in the inning to go ahead, 6-3, after three frames of action.
VMI cut into that deficit in the sixth, when Shifflett led off with a single and Winn followed with one of his own. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up, and one out later, Stallings laced a single to left to plate Shifflett. Bryan followed with an infield hit, plating Winn and cutting the UVA lead to one, 6-5.
After the home team notched the unearned run off Edens in the sixth, the Keydets mounted a rally in the eighth. Winn led off with a double against Whit Mayberry, and one out later, Red Dowdell got him home with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead back to one, 7-6. Stallings then hammered a double to left, putting the tying run in scoring position with two out, but reliever Austin Young struck out Bryan to end the inning and quell the final Keydet threat. Downes’ RBI single in the UVA half of the eighth accounted for the final margin, 8-6.
Andrew Woods (2-1) took the loss on a staff day for the Keydets, as he surrendered three runs (two earned) in his two relief innings. Cash allowed three runs in his lone inning as the starter, while his counterpart Oest (5-0) was the victor despite surrendering five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. Kyle Crockett worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save.
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Long Posts Two IC4A Qualifying Marks to Lead Keydets at UNF |
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Written by media relations
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Sunday, 31 March 2013 01:04 |
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Aron Long posted IC4A qualifying marks in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes, leading the VMI men’s track and field team at the North Florida Invitational, contested Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla.
Long had the best day so far in this, his freshman season, opening with a 10.85 clocking in the 100 to place 10th. It was the fastest 100-meter time by a Keydet since 2010 (James Alexander), and Long backed it up in the 200, timing in at 21.78, the 12th-fastest time overall. In that race, he finished just .01 behind Rozzie Johnson of Charleston Southern, the longtime Big South sprint threat.
One of the other Keydet highlights of the day came in the long jump, where VMI placed three competitors in the top seven finishing positions. Antonio Wood led the way with a runner-up result, stretching the tape to 6.89 meters (22’7 ¼”), while Nate Gant was fifth with a best jump of 6.67 meters (21’10 ¾”). Quincy Murphy rounded out the trio, jumping 6.58 meters (21’7 ¼”) to come home seventh.
The Keydets also put two in the top eight of both the high jump and the 5,000-meters. In the 5K, Cabell Willis crossed the line second in 15:12.45, while Hartnel Paultre was eighth in 15:29.86. The high jump saw Avion Jones finish third (2.00 M/6’6 ¾”) and Antonio Wood place eighth (1.90 M/6’2 ¾”).
The throwers also nabbed a pair of solid finishes, with Joel Hoisington leading the way with a third-place result in the shot put. Hoisington logged a distance of 14.51 M/47’7 ¼”, while Jordan White was seventh in the discus, hurling that implement 43.32 M/142’1”.
In other results, Daniel DeNijs was fourth in his first career 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:19.73), Jacob Lysher placed eighth in the 800-meter run (1:55.53) and Avery Martin was ninth in the 1,500 (4:04.95). Finally, Staton Mayfield cleared 4.35 M/14’3 ¼” to tie for seventh in the pole vault, an event in which ties were not broken.
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