
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994                   TAG: 9405010143
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: D-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VMI LOSES IN BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

Scott Mullen and Jon Hinkle held VMI to one hit as The Citadel advanced to the final of the Southern Conference baseball tournament with a 4-3 victory Saturday in Charleston, S.C.

The Bulldogs (28-31) advance to the championship round for the first time since their appearance in the College World Series in 1990. The Keydets (21-28) meet Western Carolina in an elimination game today.

Jermaine Shuler scored the winning run for The Citadel in the bottom of the sixth inning on Ryan Butler's double-play grounder with the bases loaded.

The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the first. David Beckley led off with a walk and advanced to third on a Donald Morillo double. Bo Betchmann drove in Beckley and Morillo with a double and came around to score on Garrick Haltiwanger's single.

VMI tied the score at 3 in the sixth on two walks and four Citadel errors.

Hinkle (2-1) recorded the victory; Billy Goodrich (3-4) took the loss.

In other college baseball:

In Fairfax, catcher Denny Hedspeth's two-run triple in the third inning propelled Virginia Tech to a 14-5 non-conference victory over George Mason.

The Hokies (26-19), winners of 14 of their past 16 games, scored four runs in the third inning to take the lead for good. Hedspeth was 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored, second baseman Justin Dobson was 3-for-4 with two RBI and first baseman David Fitt was 3-for-3 with an RBI. The Hokies pounded out 19 hits.

Ron Preston (3-7) picked up the victory, striking out five and walking one in eight innings. The Hokies play their last home game of the season today against George Mason (15-26-1) at English Field.

In Radford, Aaron Pasko drove in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to the lift Radford to a 7-5 victory over UNC Greensboro in the first game of a Big South Conference doubleheader.

The league-leading Spartans rallied for an 8-6 victory in the second game, erasing a 6-3 Highlander lead on Steve Matyczyk's sixth-inning grand slam. The victory kept UNC Greensboro (35-14 overall, 18-4 in the Big South) 2 1/2 games ahead of second-place Radford (25-20, 16-7). Coastal Carolina also is 16-7 in Big South play.

Jim Abbott (4-3) went the distance to earn the victory for the Highlanders, scattering six hits and striking out a career-high 10. Anthony Sylvester (6-1) took his first loss.

Brian Pardue doubled in two runs in each game and finished with four hits and five RBI in the two contests to lead Radford at the plate.

by CNB