LEXINGTON, Va. – VMI scored six runs in the first three innings Friday and took advantage of five UNCG defensive miscues to post an 11-3 victory in the opener of a Southern Conference series at Gray-Minor Stadium. The Spartans are now 21-23 overall and 11-11 in SoCon play while the Keydets improve to 16-26 and 9-10. UNCG has dropped five of its last six Friday games in league action.

Austin Heenan (1-6) earned his first victory of the season after tossing a career-high 7 1/3 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Junior RHP Ryan Clark fell to 6-6 surrendering nine runs (four earned) on seven hits, four walks and two strikeouts in six innings of work. Sophomore LHP Julian Abreu threw the final two innings and struck out four.

Senior Zac MacAneney notched a pair of hits to lead the UNCG offense while classmate Aaron Wright hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season and pushed the Spartans' total to 50. Will Connerley was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three driven in. Wright and senior Eric Kalbfleisch extended their hitting streaks to 11 games with a hit apiece.

UNCG got off to a quick start as MacAneney and senior Hunter King led off the contest with a single and double respectively. Wright plated MacAneney with a RBI groundout before junior Collin Woody roped a single through the left side allowing King to score. An inning-ending double play left the Spartans with a 2-0 lead heading to the home half of the first.

A pair of walks and a stolen base put Keydet runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the first before a throwing error allowed VMI's first run of the ballgame to cross home. Collin Fleischer notched a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Will Connerley drove a 0-1 pitch over the wall in dead center to give his team a 4-2 advantage.

Both teams failed to score in the second inning but VMI scored two runs on three hits and another UNCG defensive miscue to pull ahead 6-2 after three complete.

The Keydets put the game away in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff walk and Matt Winn two-run home run made it an 8-2 game. VMI added an unearned run later in the inning to push its cushion to seven runs. The home team would score two of the last three runs in the contest to account for the final margin.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m.

Keep up with the UNCG baseball team all year long by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @UNCGBaseball/@uncgsports.