CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel (27-24, 8-10 SoCon) finishes the regular season on the road in Lexington, Va., with a three-game series against VMI (28-23, 3-15 SoCon) on May 14-16. First pitch on Thursday and Friday is set for 6 p.m., and the Saturday game is slated for 1 p.m.
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday, May 14 | Live Stats | ESPN+
Will Holmes (5-4, 4.61) vs. Justin Spiegel (1-4, 8.46)
 
Friday, May 15 | Live Stats | ESPN+
Andrew Buffkin (5-4, 2.48) vs. Clark Driscoll (3-3, 3.76)
 
Saturday, May 16 | Live Stats | ESPN+
Trip Brown (2-3, 3.19) vs. TBD
 
Weekend Weather
Thursday's weather shows a high of 59 and a low of 44, with partly cloudy skies and winds from the NWN at 12 mph. Friday shows a high of 74 and a low of 51, with winds from the W at 6 mph. Saturday will be the warmest day, with a high of 83, mostly sunny skies, and SW winds at 9 mph.
 
ESPN+
The weekend series with the Bulldogs and the Keydets will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Series History vs. VMI
The Citadel and VMI have met 125 times on the diamond since 1965, with the Bulldogs leading the all-time series 81-44. The Bulldogs swept VMI last season at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The Bulldogs are 8-3 against the Keydets since the 2023 season.
 
Scouting VMI
The Keydets are 28-23 overall and 3-15 in SoCon play. VMI beat Norfolk State on May 12 and was swept by Mercer in the previous weekend's conference series. The Keydets are batting .275 as a team, with 438 hits, 93 doubles, 10 triples, 56 home runs, and 331 RBIs. VMI ranks second in the nation with 179 stolen bases.
 
Cole Raile leads the team with a .357 batting average, and Grayson Fitzwater has 20 home runs and 60 RBIs.
 
The Keydets' pitching staff has a team ERA of 5.95 over 419.0 innings, allowing 471 hits and 277 earned runs while striking out 356.
 
Holmes Eyeing 100
Currently, Will Holmes has a career-best 89 strikeouts thus far into the campaign, good for second in the SoCon. Holmes needs 11 more strikeouts to reach 100 on the season, and would be the first Citadel pitcher to reach the 100-strikeout plateau since JP Sears, who punched out 142 batters in 2017.

Catch Him If You Can
Jayden Williams has 26 stolen bases this season, ranking second in the SoCon behind VMI's Owen Prince, who leads the league with 28. Williams needs four more to reach 30, which would serve as the most stolen bases since 2000 when Chris Morris tallied an all-time record 84.
 
On Deck
The Citadel heads to the 2026 Southern Conference Championship in Greenville, S.C., on May 20. Seedings for the eight-team tournament will be announced on Saturday evening.