NORFOLK, Va. – James Madison finished its regular season with a 7-3 win over Old Dominion in Sun Belt Conference baseball at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex on Saturday afternoon.
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The Dukes snapped a six-game skid and finish the campaign at 21-32 (11-19 Sun Belt), while the Monarchs fell to 29-25 (15-15 Sun Belt).
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Redshirt sophomore
Clay Thompson and sophomore
Reece Moody each recorded three hits, a run scored and an RBI. Thompson tied his season high in hits and added a double, while Moody tied his career high in hits and stole two bases to increase his tally to 35 this season – tied for fourth most in a single season at JMU.
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Freshman
Tyler Lutz earned his fourth win of the season, going a career-long eight innings while striking out two. It is the Telford, Pa native's third quality start in his last four appearances on the mound.
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How It Happened
Third Inning
JMU put five runs on the board to break the scoreless tie, beginning the scoring with a two-run homer off the bat of junior Kyle Langly – his fifth of the season. A single from Thompson added a run before senior
Jack Guerrero's two-run double capped the scoring.
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Fifth Inning
ODU got on the board on an error to make it 5-1.
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Seventh Inning
Guerrero regained the Dukes' five-run lead by driving in a run on a sacrifice fly.
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Eighth Inning
Connecting for his career-high-tying third hit of the day, Moody drove in a run with two outs to make the score 7-1 in favor of the Dukes.
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A leadoff homer and a two-out single added two runs for ODU to make the score 7-3.
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Game Notes
- The Dukes batted .353 (6-for-17) with runners on, .364 (4-for-11) with runners in scoring position and .375 (6-for-16) with two outs.
- With two stolen bases, Reece Moody finishes the year with 35 which ties Rich Thompson for the fourth most in a JMU season.
- This season's JMU team becomes the fourth team in program history to steal over 140 bases, finishing with 143 after stealing five today.
- Tyler Lutz's eight-inning performance was the longest start by a Duke since Max Kuhle pitched a nine-inning complete game on May 2 last season.
- With its win in the baseball regular-season finale, JMU captured the 2025-26 TowneBank Royal Rivalry Challenge over ODU by a 9.5 to 7.5 margin.