LEXINGTON, Va. - Host VMI (8-9) scored in four straight middle innings and held off Binghamton baseball (4-9) 5-3 in the rubber game of the weekend series Sunday afternoon at brisk Gray-Minor Stadium. The Bearcats matched VMI in hits (9-9) but left nine stranded and came up short.
Down 1-0, the Keydets scored twice in the fourth and added single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to build a 5-1 cushion. The Bearcats scored twice in the eighth to tighten the score and BU brought the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings but couldn't deliver the needed hit.
Senior right fielder
Mike Gunning continued his excellent spring with a 3-for-4 showing. He collected two doubles and an RBI to pace BU's nine-hit attack. Gunning is hitting .347 with six home runs and 14 RBI in 13 games. Sophomore shortstop
Mike Stellrecht went 2-for-3 with an RBI and junior left fielder
Logan Haskell had an RBI single.
In the third inning, Haskell put the Bearcats on top with his hit. Stellrecht led off with a single and after two straight groundouts, Haskell stroked a two-out RBI single to right for a 1-0 lead. But after senior starter
Nelson Berkwich (L, 5.0 IP) blanked VMI for the first three innings, the Keydets took advantage of a missed check-swing third-strike call to plate two runs.
VMI then hit solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings and finished its home output with a two-out RBI triple in the seventh.
Down 5-1, BU began its uprising in the eighth with a leadoff single from senior center fielder
Tommy Reifler. With one out, Gunning belted an RBI double to left center and Stellrecht followed with an RBI single to make it 5-3. But a strikeout ended the frame. In the ninth, senior second baseman
Isaiah Corry led off with a single to again bring the tying run to the plate. But a pop-up, strikeout and grounder closed the window and the game.
After finishing off a tough stretch of 13 straight road games, BU will welcome St. Bonaventure to the Complex for the team's home opener at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
