DUKES HOLD OFF RADFORD FOR 3-2 BASEBALL WIN

Tuesday, April 12

Harrisonburg, Va.

TBA

James Madison University

13-18

Radford

8-23

Radford

James Madison

4/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

DUKES HOLD OFF RADFORD FOR 3-2 BASEBALL WIN

Brian Leatherwood pitched six shutout innings in the Dukes' fifth win in six games.

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., April 12, 2005 – Senior right-hander Brian Leatherwood (Norfolk, Va./Granby) tossed six shutout innings and sophomore Travis Risser (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) hurled two shutout frames to earn a save as James Madison held off Radford for a 3-2 victory in non-conference college baseball Tuesday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.

The Dukes have won five of their last six to improve to 13-18 overall. The Highlanders dipped to 8-23.

Risser squelched an eighth-inning rally by the visitors to earn his third save of the season. The all-time JMU leader for saves got his career 12^th, allowing one single, walking none and striking out three.

In the eighth, RU junior shortstop David Landman (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands) and sophomore center fielder Jesse Ross (Chesapeake, Va./Greenbriar Christian) led off the inning with back-to-back singles off JMU sophomore reliever Clay McKim (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic).

Senior second baseman Alan Ashworth (Danville, Va./Tunstall) greeted Risser by pulling an RBI single through the hole and into right field. After Risser got his first strikeout, freshman catcher Nate Toth (Bedford, N.H./Manchester) dropped down a sacrifice bunt, which allowed Ross to score the second run. Following a fielding error by the Dukes on a grounder by junior first baseman John Vellines (Norfolk, Va./Maury), freshman designated hitter Scott Hoar (Springfield, Va./Lake Braddock) bounced out to Risser to end the threat.

A sacrifice fly by junior Michael Cowgill (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) in the first inning and an RBI single by freshman center fielder Kellen Kulbacki (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) in the fourth plated the first two runs for the Dukes. JMU took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Kulbacki walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out fielding error.

Leatherwood, making his third start of the season after beginning the year injured, gave up just three hits and two walks in his six frames. He struck out five.

Ross, Ashworth and Landman had two hits each to account for all of Radford's base knocks. JMU's seven hits came from as many different players.

The JMU pitching staff has now allowed only three runs over the last 26 innings.

On Wednesday, the Dukes head to the state capital to play the University of Richmond Spiders at Pitt Field. The game is slated for a 3 p.m. start and can be heard live in JMUSports.com Dukes Audio with a 2:45 p.m. start for the pre-game show.