LEXINGTON, Va. – The Samford University baseball team evened its series at VMI with an impressive 9-2 win over the Keydets Friday evening at Gray-Minor Stadium.
With the win, Samford improved its record to 21-17 overall and 7-4 in Southern Conference play. VMI fell to 25-15 overall and 5-6 in SoCon play.
Samford was led in the win by
Michael Gupton, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
Jeffrey Ince went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and two RBI.
Cade Carr went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI.
Jackson Harris went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI, while
Jake Souders went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Cameron Keshock (4-1) pitched 7.0 strong innings, giving up two runs, just one earned, on six hits and striking out four batters to earn the win on the mound for Samford.
Josh Leerssen pitched the final 2.0 innings without allowing a hit to close out the win.
"This was a great game today for our guys," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Keshock was brilliant again on the mound. We defended it at a really high level and turned several double plays early to escape innings. Then Keshock really just dominated."
For VMI, Bradley Garner went 3-for-5 with a home run and one RBI. Jaxon Lloyd (4-3) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on six hits to take the loss for the Keydets.
Samford struck first with two runs in the third inning on a two-run home run by Ince to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. VMI came back with a run in the bottom of the third inning on a solo homer by Garner to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 4-1 with two runs in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by Gupton. The Keydets cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Samford error.
In the top of the seventh inning, Souders and Harris drove in a run each as Samford pushed its lead to 6-2. In the ninth inning, Carr hit a two-run home run and Gupton had an RBI single to make the final score 9-2.
The teams will conclude their series with a game Saturday afternoon. The first pitch is set for 12 p.m. (CT).
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