LEXINGTON, Va. – The Citadel baseball team fell 12-3 to VMI Saturday afternoon in the second game of this weekend's three-game Southern Conference series at Gray-Minor Stadium, evening the series at 1-1 heading into Sunday's series finale.

The Keydets (11-13, 2-3 SoCon) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as both Nathan Eaton and Matt Pita homered. Pita then recorded his second RBI on the afternoon in the very next inning when he drew a bases-loaded walk to push Jake Huggins across the plate.

Jonathan Sabo was able to break up the no-hitter that Zak Kent had going in the fourth, launching the second pitch he saw over the wall in center field to lead off the frame. Ben Peden and Taylor Cothran then had back-to-back singles to put two runners on with no outs for Andrew Judkins. Judkins was able to move the pair over into scoring position before Ryan McCarthy drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases up. Despite the change in momentum heading in favor of the Bulldogs (12-13, 3-2 SoCon), the Keydets were able to turn a double play to end the threat.

VMI then added three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to take back the momentum and stretch the lead out to 9-1.

The Citadel scored one run in each of the seventh and eighth, but VMI effectively closed the door with three runs scored in the eighth off another two home runs.

Alex Bialakis (L, 2-3) pitched the first four innings for the Bulldogs and struck out six batters, but six earned runs saddled him with the loss. Kent (W, 3-3) went 6.2 innings for VMI and struck out eight batters to earn the win.

At the plate, Sabo and Cothran each had two hits on the day as Sabo went 2-for-3 while Cothran went 2-for-4. William Kinney kept his recent streak of games with at least one extra-base hit alive as he had an RBI double in the top of the seventh that scored Brooks O'Brien.

For VMI, four Keydets had multi-hit outings highlighted by Will Malbon's 3-for-5 outing that included two runs scored and one run batted in. Huggins also scored a pair of runs while Pita went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three runs batted in.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs and Keydets will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday, April 1. First pitch will be at 1 p.m.

SEARS ANNOUNCED AS MEMBER OF RIVERDOGS' ROSTER (Per Riverdogs' Release)
Former Citadel hurler JP Sears will make his return to The Joe just over a year removed from an All-American season in Charleston, when he ranked fifth in the country in strikeouts (142) and was named the Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year. Sears will debut as a Yankee farmhand after being drafted in the 11^th round by the Mariners in June and being dealt to New York during the offseason.

For more information on The Citadel baseball team, please follow @CitadelBaseball and @CitadelSports on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.