2008 KEYDET BASEBALL VMI BASEBALL GAME NOTES VMI BASEBALL GAME NOTES VMI BASEBALL GAME NOTES VMI BASEBALL GAME NOTES Coppin State (2-40) at VMI (20-19) April 22-23 Gray-Minor Stadium Probable Starting Pitchers CSU Nate Kellar, Fr., LHP (0-2, 9.38 ERA) vs. VMI Adam Kruithof, Fr., RHP (1-1, 9.00 ERA) CSU TBA vs. VMI Ryan Barefoot, Fr., RHP (1-1, 4.00 ERA) Date Opponent Time/Result VMI enters this week’s two-game set with preserve the win. Feb. 23 Lafayette (DH) W, 7-1; L, 5-7 Coppin State after dropping two of three against At 10-5 in the Big South, the Keydets now Feb. 24 Lafayette L, 9-11 Feb. 29 Binghamton W, 11-7 Liberty last weekend in Lynchburg. sit tied atop the League standings with 10-2 Mar. 1 Binghamton (DH) L, 3-4; W, 9-7 The Keydets claimed their first win at Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers visit Gray- Mar. 2 Central Connecticut St. W, 7-2 Mar. 4 Virginia Ppd. Worthington Stadium since joining the Big South Minor Stadium this weekend ranked as highly as Mar. 6 at Auburn L, 3-9 Conference on Saturday, dousing the Flames in 15th nationally. Mar. 7 at Auburn L, 4-6 16 innings. Friday night is Corps Night, as the VMI base- Mar. 8 at Auburn L, 1-10 Mar. 9 at Auburn L, 5-6 The marathon was VMI’s second 16-inning ball program welcomes the corps of cadets to Mar. 11 Old Dominion L, 6-7 game in two weeks, having earlier defeated Gray-Minor Stadium. Fans should plan to come Mar. 12 at William & Mary L, 3-12 Mar. 14 Marshall L, 3-4 Radford at Gray-Minor Stadium, 3-2. out early to get your seats, as we expect a full Mar. 15 Marshall L, 1-5 In last weekend’s version, the Keydets tied house for the 7 p.m. start. Mar. 16 Marshall L, 2-7 the game in the bottom of the ninth once again, Saturday’s 6 p.m. contest marks Community Mar. 19 at Norfolk State W, 11-2 Mar. 21 at High Point* W, 5-4 this time with Thane Smith trotting home on Night, as several activities are planned with kids Mar. 22 at High Point* (DH) W, 5-3; W, 3-0 Brian Sandridge’s single into left field. in mind. There will be face-painting, games, Mar. 25 William and Mary W, 9-8 Mar. 26 at James Madison L, 4-8 The Keydets took a 5-4 lead in the 15th, bouncies and other fun stuff throughout the night, Mar. 28 Winthrop* L, 3-11 when Sam Roberts scored on Mike Roberts’ single and Edy’s Ice Cream will be on hand. In addi- Mar. 29 Winthrop* W, 5-4 Mar. 30 Winthrop* L, 0-4 into right field, but that would not be enough for tion, Hess and Company Jewelers will give away a Apr. 1 Richmond W, 9-5 a VMI win. The Flames rallied to tie the game VMI watch valued at over $100 both nights. Apr. 2 at Old Dominion W, 7-3 again in the home 15th, when Garrett Young The Keydets and Eagles meet for the seventh Apr. 5 Radford* W, 4-3 (11) Apr. 6 Radford* W, 9-5 scored on Aaron Grijalva’s two-bagger down the consecutive season this week, with VMI holding a Apr. 7 Radford* W, 3-2 (16) left field-line. Chris Duty was summoned into the 16-0 record in the series. This year, Coppin State Apr. 8 VCU L, 5-3 Apr. 9 at Longwood Cancelled game with the winning run at second base and swept a doubleheader at home against North Apr. 11 at UNC Asheville* L, 5-8 one out, and escaped the jam by making maybe Carolina Central, breaking a 55-game losing Apr. 12 at UNC Asheville* W, 7-4 the play of the game, beating Kenneth Negron to streak for the program. Apr. 13 at UNC Asheville* W, 10-3 Apr. 15 James Madison W, 6-4 first base on a bunt-single attempt to receive the Apr. 16 Norfolk State W, 10-7 throw from Jordan Ballard, ending the inning. Apr. 18 at Liberty* L, 0-8 Apr. 19 at Liberty* W, 6-5 (16) Following an A.J. Yoder single that plated Apr. 20 at Liberty* L, 1-6 Sandridge, Duty retired the Flames in order to Apr. 22 Coppin State 6 p.m. Apr. 23 Coppin State 4 p.m. Apr. 25 Coastal Carolina* 7 p.m. Probable Lineup Apr. 26 Coastal Carolina* 6 p.m. Yr. AVG R 2B 3B HR RBI SLG OBP SB-A Apr. 27 Coastal Carolina* 1 p.m. RF Sam Roberts Fr. .310 19 8 0 0 11 .381 .416 8-9 Apr. 29 at VCU 7 p.m. DH Mike Roberts Jr. .333 17 7 0 5 32 .500 .390 5-5 Apr. 30 Virginia Tech 6 p.m. May 9 Maryland-Eastern Shore 6 p.m. 3B Tanner Biagini So. .342 23 7 0 4 30 .462 .398 2-2 May 10 Maryland-Eastern Shore 6 p.m. LF Brian Sandridge R-So. .351 18 7 0 6 28 .542 .386 2-4 May 11 Maryland-Eastern Shore 1 p.m. 1B Jordan Ballard So. .291 25 9 0 8 20 .537 .389 3-4 May 13 at Virginia 6 p.m. May 14 Longwood 6 p.m. SS A.J. Yoder Jr. .250 19 4 1 2 14. 353 .333 3-4 May 16 Charleston Southern* 7 p.m. CF Justin Hess So. .229 13 5 0 1 8 .297 .316 6-10 May 17 Charleston Southern* 6 p.m. May 18 Charleston Southern* 1 p.m. C Alex Haitsuka Fr. .261 7 6 0 0 3 .348 .350 0-1 May 20-24 at Big South Tournament TBD 2B Shane Geisslinger Sr. .312 31 8 1 0 15 .383 .406 14-16 VMI’s Record in 2008..... VMI Off to Hot Start In Conference ging percentage. Thanks to a pair of sweeps and a road He is currently on a career-best 12-game Overall . .20-19 series win over the Big South’s first five week- hitting streak, during which he is 25-for-60 (.417) with four doubles, two home runs, 12 Big South . .10-5 ends of play, VMI is in a tie atop the league standings with a 10-5 mark. RBIs and eight runs scored Non-Conference . .10-14 The start is the program’s best-ever to a At Home . .12-10 conference season, besting the 8-7 mark of the Henderson Racks Up Strikeouts 1988, 1989 and 2003 teams. On the Road . .8-9 Junior hurler Chris Henderson, despite post- ing impressive numbers, was never considered a At Home (Big South) . .4-2 Bullpen Comes Up Big strikeout pitcher in his first two years at VMI, On the Road (Big South) . .6-3 While VMI’s weekend rotation received striking out 79 batters in 111 innings. That belief has been shattered this season, At Home (Non-Conference) . .8-8 many of the headlines in the preseason, the team’s bullpen has come up big as of late. as Henderson currently ranks third in the Big On the Road (Non-Conference) . .2-6 In the past 16 games, the VMI bullpen has South with 57 strikeouts in 57 innings, thanks in In Extra-Inning Games . .3-0 gone 5-0 with four saves in 35 total appear- large part to back-to-back double-digit strikeout ances, posting an ERA of 1.71 with opponents games in conference play. Vs. Top 25 Teams . .0-0 hitting only .177. In his first league appearance, Henderson Vs. In-State Teams . .10-6 In conference play this season, the bullpen struck out ten against High Point in seven has been impressive as well, going 4-0 with four innings before striking out 11 against Winthrop Playing a Day Game . .12-14 saves and a 2.38 ERA in 26 total appearances. in eight innings. He did not walk a batter in Playing a Night Game . .8-5 Opponents are hitting only .205 off of Keydet either appearance, and ranks second in the the Big South by issuing only five walks all year. In First Game of a Doubleheader . .2-1 relievers, who have struck out 41 batters and walked only 15 in 45.1 innings. The right-hander currently ranks atop the In Second Game of a Doubleheader . .2-1 Keydet career recordbook by issuing only 1.71 In Single Games . .16-17 Wood Carving of Late walks per nine innings in his career. In his two- plus years with the Keydets, Henderson now has In one-run games . .6-4 Redshirt-sophomore reliever Daniel Wood 136 strikeouts and 32 walks in 168 innings. has been quite impressive on the mound of late. In two-run games . .3-4 Since coming on in relief and surrendering In five + run games . .5-7 two runs, one earned, against Winthrop on March Keydets Top League Pitching Charts Midway through the season, the VMI pitch- When Scoring First . .12-6 28, Wood has been fairly dominant in April. He has made six relief appearances and has allowed ing staff currently tops the Big South ledger in When Opponent Scores First . .8-13 only seven hits in 14 innings and has not surren- several categories. When Leading Entering 7th Inning . .14-0 dered an earned run during the stretch.