VMI baseball (27-29, 7-14 SoCon) ended its 2024 campaign with a tough loss to seventh-seeded Mercer (27-27, 6-14 SoCon) in the opening round of the Southern Conference Championship at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, May 22.
The Keydets’ offense sparked too late as the Bears went up early and held on in the end, 19-14. Between the two squads, there were a combined 40 hits, a new SoCon Tournament record, with 33 runs, the most since 2008. VMI’s 14 runs are the most scored in a postseason game in program history since 1993.
Key Stats
- Keydets broke the program’s postseason stolen base record with six swiped bags
- Grayson Fitzwater ’26, Justin Starke ’23, Trey Morgan ’24, and Jed Barrett ’24 each tallied three hits
- Starke recorded four RBI and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle
- Fitzwater and Starke accounted for six of VMI’s 14 runs
- Keydets totaled 18 hits and 45 at-bats, the most all season
- Morgan helped out VMI on the bump, going 4.1 innings in relief with three punch-outs
- Cole Raile ’27 had a pair of hits, including a loud solo shot
- With his homer in the ninth inning, Fitzwater tied the single-season home run record and broke the single-season RBI record
- Keydet pitching staff struck out 10 Bears, which is tied for most strikeouts in VMI postseason history
- Morgan’s 42-game on-base streak will be identified as a new program record
Scoring Summary
- Mercer kicked off the game with three runs in the opening frame before Starke stole home to make it 3-1
- Bears added five more between the next two innings
- Keydets picked up a pair of runs in the third after a Swaim double and Starke single
- Mercer had 10 cross the plate in innings four and five
- Starke’s triple, followed by Morgan’s double, helped provide three more runs for VMI
- After holding the Bears scoreless in the sixth, the Keydets took advantage and scored five runs in the bottom half
- Cole Jenkins ’24 picked up the first run off a fielder’s choice right before Fitzwater singled in another run to make it 18-8
- Keeping the game alive, Starke doubled in a pair of runs before Morgan singled him home to cut the deficit to seven
- Despite Mercer nabbing another run, VMI got two runs in the eighth after Owen Prince ’26 stole third, scoring on an error, then Raile launched a missile over the green monster to shorten the Bears’ lead, 19-13
- In the ninth, Fitzwater tacked on a record-breaking opposite-field blast to close the gap to just five
Editor’s Note: This article was first published at vmikeydets.com.
