Box Score

VMI 8, VT 7

 

LEXINGTON, Va. - VMI's Brian Sandridge scored on a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Keydets an 8-7 non-conference victory over Virginia Tech on Wednesday night at Gray-Minor Stadium.

Sandridge walked as the second batter of the inning and moved to second on Justin Hess' grounder to third, which was misplayed by Tech third baseman Matt Blow. After Justin Topping singled to fill the bases, Shane Geisslinger came on and drew the game-winning walk off of Tech reliever Rhett Ballard (High Point, N.C.), who took the loss to fall to 2-6 after tossing 2.1 innings of two-hit ball. He gave up two runs but neither was earned, as the Hokies tied a season high with five errors in the field.

VMI's walk-off walk wouldn't have been necessary, though, if not for a clutch comeback effort by the Hokies (18-27) in the top half of the inning. The Keydets (23-22) led 7-4 heading into the final frame, but Tech used three base hits and two sacrifice flies to tie it up and stay alive.

Second baseman Matt Hacker (Richmond, Va.) - who tied a career high with four hits in the game - led off the ninth with a single before starting third baseman Michael Seaborn (Atlanta, Ga.) was hit by a pitch. Center fielder Steve Bumbry (Cockeysville, Md.) then notched a single of his own to juice the bags for Blow (Richmond, Va.), who lifted a pinch-hit sacrifice to center to bring home Hacker and send Seaborn to third.

With first baseman Sean O'Brien (Chappaqua, N.Y.) at the dish, VMI reliever Chris Duty - who earned the win to improve to 5-0 - tried to pick Bumbry off of first, but the throw got away and allowed Seaborn to score. O'Brien eventually singled Bumbry to third, and right fielder Klint Reed (Chesterfield, Va.) - playing against the school from which he transferred - drove in Bumbry for Tech's seventh run with another sac fly to center.

O'Brien tallied two hits to go with Hacker's four, while Seaborn extended his team lead in homers with his eighth of the year, a two-run shot that he crushed off of the scoreboard in left-center field in the fourth inning.

Four different Keydets had two hits each, while VMI committed four errors of their own in the field.

A one-out walk to Reed, followed by a ground-ball single between third and short by catcher Anthony Sosnoskie (Front Royal, Va.), set the stage for a Tech run in the top of the first inning. A sharp-hit grounder off the bat of freshman designated hitter Austin Wates (Richmond, Va.) was misplayed by Keydet third baseman Tanner Biagini, allowing Reed to race home from second for a quick 1-0 Tech lead.

VMI erased the lead even quicker when No. 2 batter Mike Roberts smacked a solo home run to straightaway center field in the bottom of the inning. It was the eighth round-tripper of the season for the Keydets' catcher.

Roberts' younger brother Sam put the home team ahead with a two-out, two-run double in the second inning. A perfectly placed bunt-single by shortstop A.J. Yoder started the inning, and a one-out Tech fielding error on a grounder to short by Justin Topping kept it going.

Tech used a little two-out thunder of its own to even things up in the fourth. Hacker started things by posting his second straight two-out single off of VMI starting pitcher Trey Barham, who had retired eight batters in a row following Hacker's first single. Barham, who wound up tossing seven innings in the game, then yielded the homer to Seaborn.

Tech starter David Cross (Scottsdale, Ariz.) retired the first two Keydet batters he faced in the fourth inning before giving up a pair of runs. Singles by Geisslinger and Sam Roberts preceded a walk to Mike Roberts that loaded the bases in the inning. Biagini then delivered a two-run single to put VMI on top 5-3.

The Keydets added runs off Tech's bullpen in the fifth and eighth innings. Sandridge led off the fifth with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Yoder, took third on a ground out and scored on single by Topping. In the eighth, Geisslinger led off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make the score 7-4.

The Hokies also got a run in the eighth when O'Brien scored from third on a ground out to second by Wates. O'Brien had led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on Reed's subsequent base knock.

Tech's next action will be a double-header against non-conference foe Presbyterian at English Field on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.