Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)

LEXINGTON, Va. - Sophomore shortstop Brendan Skidmore went 3-for-4 with a double, home run and five RBI, leading Binghamton baseball (3-6) to a 13-6 win over VMI Monday afternoon from Gray-Minor Stadium. With two straight wins, BU took the series from the Keydets (3-3).

With the score tied at 2-2, BU erupted for five runs in the third inning and added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to pull away. The Bearcats totalled 14 hits and four Binghamton pitchers combined to keep VMI in check.

Senior Anthony Grillini (W, 1-0) earned the win with 3.1 innings of relief. Grillini allowed just two hits and a run and struck out three.

In the five-run third inning, junior third baseman David Schanz, senior right fielder Jake Thomas and junior second baseman Reed Gamache all singled, with Gamache driving in the go-ahead run. Skidmore tallied his first RBI with an ensuing bases-loaded walk and sophomore catcher Eddie Posavec followed with a two-run double to left center, making it a 5-2 margin. Then with two outs and runners on second and third, senior first baseman Brian Ruby delivered a two-run single to right, pushing the lead to 7-2. 

The Keydets scored in four straight early innings but BU pitching limited the damage to single runs in three of those frames. The Bearcats then only surrendered one run over the final four innings. 

In the three-run fifth, Gamache had an RBI and Skidmore ripped a two-run double. Skidmore then finished off his big day with a two-run home run in the ninth inning. He took an 0-2 pitch over the center field wall for his first homer of the season. Earlier, Skidmore began the game with an RBI single in the first inning.

Posavec went 3-for-6 with three RBI, Gamache was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and three runs scored and Schanz had two hits and two runs. Thomas scored three times. 

Senior center fielder Zach Blanden went 6-for-12 with five runs scored in the three-game set. He leads the Bearcats with a .412 average and 10 runs scored through nine games this spring. Thomas is hitting .406 with a team-high nine RBI. 

The Bearcats open America East play with a doubleheader Saturday at Stony Brook, followed by a single game on Sunday. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since last May when the Bearcats stunned the top-seeded Seawolves with back-to-back tournament wins to capture Binghamton's second straight conference title.