Live Stats | Live VMI Audio (Friday and Sunday)
CLINTON, S.C. - The Presbyterian College baseball team (9-14, 0-3) travels to Lexington, Va., for a weekend series at VMI (6-14, 0-3) that begins on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. The Blue Hose look to snap a four-game losing skid and pick up its first Big South Conference win, rebounding from a midweek non-conference loss to Kennesaw State on Wednesday, 9-6.
PC trails VMI in the series history since moving to Division I, 3-5. The Blue Hose dropped the first two meetings but won the 2010 series, 2-1. Last year in Clinton, PC fell in the opening two games before taking the seriers finale, 5-4. Kenny Bryant knocked in a two-run RBI walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth to give PC the win.
The Blue Hose will likely start Bud Jeter, Chandler Knox and Beau Dees over the weekend. Jeter and Knox have served as PC's opening 1-2 punch throughout the season, with both collecting their first wins of the season against NJIT on March 9 and 10. Knox also turned in a solid effort against Liberty on Saturday, limiting Liberty to four runs in six innings. Dees leads the Blue Hose starters in ERA (4.28) and earned his first career win on March 14 with 1.2 innings of hitless relief against Kennesaw State.
Robby Swab enters Friday having reached safely in his last 11 straight games, tying Gabe Grammer and Andrew Williams for the longest on-base streak of any PC player this season. Swab also holds the longest active hitting streak, with four games. Andrew Williams holds the longest hitting streak this season, with eight games.
VMI enters the weekend with a 6-14 overall record and an 0-3 marker in Big South Conference play after dropping its last seven games. The Keydets fell in all three Big South games to UNC Asheville over the weekend and stumbled against Virginia on Wednesday night, 12-3. Jacob Morely paces the squad at the plate, compiling a .383 batting average and 15 RBI.
Despite outhitting Kennesaw State on Wednesday, PC fell by an 8-4 margin. Kenny Bryant went 3-for-4 and Gabe Grammer went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Robby Swab also drove in a team-high two runs with an RBI double in the sixth.
The Blue Hose next head to Clemson, S.C., for the 2012 matchup with the Tigers on Wednesday evening. PC split last year's series with Clemson, winning a 4-3 thriller against the No. 16 ranked team in Fluor Field on March 16. The win marked PC's first over Clemson since 1949.
