LEXINGTON, Va. – The Presbyterian College baseball team mounted a ninth-inning rally that nearly tied its Saturday afternoon game against the VMI Keydets at Gray-Minor Stadium, but the Keydets held on to win, 6-5.
PC moves to 10-13-1 and 3-2 in the Big South while VMI improves to 12-9 and 3-2 in league play. The two teams wrap up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Blue Hose scored three runs in the seventh and two in the ninth and placed the winning run 90 feet away with two out before the game ended.
Down 6-3 heading into the final inning, Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) led off and reached on an error. Tyler Weyenberg (Marietta, Ga.) drew a walk and Billy Motroni (Goose Creek, S.C.) fooled the defense on a first-pitch bunt for an infield single that loaded the bases. Nate Chong (Duluth, Ga.) walked with the bags full to score one and bring up Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.). The junior shortstop hit into a fielder's choice where VMI threw home for the first out of the inning.
With the bases still loaded, Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) then hit a single to right field. The VMI right fielder dove at the ball and the chance glanced off his glove to the second baseman, who threw home. Motroni scored on the play but the throw beat Chong, who was called out at home. A pop-fly on the next at-bat ended the game as VMI escaped with the 6-5 win.
VMI held PC without a hit for the first five innings before Lizanich broke through with a single in the sixth.
Motroni led PC at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Chong also drove in two runs as well. Chandler Knox (Columbia, S.C.) took the loss to move to 4-2 on the year. Paul Sanders (St. Simons Island, Ga.) threw a 1.1 shutout innings and Hayden Deal (Newton, N.C.) allowed one run in the same amount of work.
After VMI scored five runs over the first five innings, the Blue Hose scored their first runs of the afternoon with a three-spot in the seventh. With Midkiff and Weston Jackson (Greer, S.C.) on the basepaths, Motroni ripped the first pitch down the left field line to plate both. Chong then hit a double to left field that scored Motroni to pull PC within two, 5-3.
VMI took one run back in the eighth on a Brandon Angus RBI groundout to set up PC's ninth-inning rally.
The Keydets used a Josh Worthley two-run single in the first and a David Geary RBI single to post three runs in the first inning. One run each in the fourth and fifth added to VMI's lead.
The Blue Hose turned two double plays on the day and committed zero errors.
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Presbyterian College 000 000 302 - 5 6 0 (10-13-1, 3-2 BSC)
VMI................. 300 110 01X - 6 13 1 (12-9, 3-2 BSC)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - KNOX, Chandler; SANDERS, Paul(5); DEAL, Hayden(7);
WORTKOETTER, Ethan(8) and LONG, Derek. VMI - BACH, C.; ELLIS, R.(7); HAWKINS, B.(7);
KELLEY, J.(8); THOMAS, T.(9); EDENS, T.(9) and DOWDELL, R.; WINN, M..
Win-BACH, C.(2-3) Save-EDENS, T.(2) Loss-KNOX, Chandler(4-2) T-2:57 A-213
Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy
THOMAS, T. faced 4 batters in the 9th.
