HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison scored two runs in three different innings to clinch the weekend series against Albany with a 6-2 win in non-conference baseball on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.
Albany (1-2) scored the first run of the game in the top half of the fourth off a runner scoring from third off a ground ball to first base. The Dukes (5-2) answered in their half of the fourth, as senior
Ryan Coale hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored sophomore
Harry Brown, followed a RBI double by freshman
Josh Jones that allowed sophomore
Fox Semones to score, giving JMU a 2-1 advantage.
The Dukes added two runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead from a homerun over the right-center field wall by
Zach Tondi, his second of the season, and senior
Adam Sisk scoring on a wild pitch.
The Great Danes added a run in the sixth inning off a double that scored the runner on second base.
In the eighth inning, senior
Mike Sciorra scored on a passed ball then freshman
Michael Morgan scored off a double from Tondi, leading to the final score, 6-2.
Four Dukes knocked two hits on the night as Sciorra tallied his second consecutive two-hit game, going a perfect 2-for-2 with a run and two walks, Tondi went 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI and a walk, Brown went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and a walk, while Jones went 2-for-3 as well with a RBI and a walk.
Freshman
Nick Stewart (2-0) earned the win in his first collegiate start after throwing five innings, tallying five strikeouts, giving up two hits, one walk and a run. Sophomore
Kevin Kelly closed the game for the Dukes, earning his second save of the season.
QUOTING COACH IKE
"Stewart did a good job going five innings for us, I thought he did a great job in his first career start at home. I was proud of the big hits we got, Tondi hitting the double and a home run. We manufactured some runs when we needed to late in the ball game, and I'm proud of the offense for doing that. Most importantly, the team competed in every at-bat and that is what won us this game."
UP NEXT
James Madison will remain in-state, traveling to Richmond for a 2:30 p.m. game on Wednesday at Pitt Field against the Richmond Spiders.