Dukes Fall in Heartbreaker at Hofstra

Saturday, May 14

Hempstead, N.Y.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

26-22, 11-8

Hofstra

25-21, 14-9

James Madison

Hofstra

5/14/2022 3:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – A walk off three-run home run played spoiler for James Madison baseball, as Hofstra took the middle game of the series, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon at University Field.

The Dukes drop to 26-22, 11-8 while the Pride is now 25-21, 14-9.

Sophomore Ryan Murphy went 6.1 innings while striking out two and giving up three runs. Redshirt junior Kyle Novak led the Dukes at the plate, going 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI's.

How It Happened
A pair of RBI singles in the first and second innings would give the Pride a 2-0 lead early on in the game. It would take until the fifth inning for the Dukes to get the bats going. After redshirt junior Carson Bell drew a leadoff walk, he stole second before classmate Nick Zona was hit by a pitch. Novak then tied the game at two, doubling in Bell and Zona for his 46^th and 47^th RBI's which are the most a Duke has recorded since Chad Carroll's 55 in 2013.

Following Novak to the plate, freshman Fenwick Trimble then gave the Dukes the lead with his sixth home run of the season for a 4-2 lead. Hofstra was able to make it a one-run game in the seventh inning, singling in a run after a leadoff double. JMU quickly responded, pushing the lead back to two when freshman Coleman Calabrese laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score redshirt junior Travis Reifsnider and make it 5-3.

The Pride put together a furious comeback in the bottom of the ninth though, as a leadoff walk and double brought the winning run to the plate with no outs. Jake Liberatore then took the second pitch he saw over the left center field wall to give the Pride a 6-5 walk off win. It is the first walk off home run given up by JMU since 2009.

Aljo Sujak earned the win for the Pride with 1.2 innings of work out of the pen.

Up Next
JMU and Hofstra meet in the series finale on Sunday, May 15 at 1 p.m. at University Field. The game will be streamed on FloSports.