Upcoming Event: Baseball at Florida State on February 13, 2026 at 5 p.m.
BASE
5 p.m.
James Madison
at Florida State
James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
Friday, February 24
Harrisonburg, Va.
TBA
James Madison University
1-4
13
vs
4
Fairfield
0-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Fairfield
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
3
4
7
3
James Madison
0
0
2
3
4
1
2
1
X
13
15
2
KULBACKI, COWGILL LEAD DUKES IN 13-4 BASEBALL WIN
2/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HARRISONBURG, Va., Feb. 24, 2006 – Junior right-hander Travis Miller (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) continued the early-season trend of strong pitching for James Madison and the bats finally thawed out as the Dukes dumped the Fairfield University Stags 13-4 Friday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.
The Dukes earned their first win of the season after a home-opening 4-1 loss Thursday to Atlantic 10 favorite George Washington and dropping all three games of a series last weekend at No. 1 Clemson.
It was the earliest season opener in the 56-year history of Fairfield baseball.
Miller matched his career high for strikeouts with nine, while walking none and allowing just three hits in six innings on the mound. The Stags managed one unearned run against Miller, who evened his record to 1-1. He first had nine strikeouts on March 6, 2004 against Coppin State. Friday's six innings is his longest stint in more than two calendar years. His last six-inning outing was on Feb. 22, 2004 in a home win against Bucknell.
The Dukes' pitching staff has a collective earned-run average of 4.07 through the first five games. That number read 6.18 a year ago when the Dukes were troubled by injuries.
Sophomore center fielder Kellen Kulbacki (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) and senior second baseman Michael Cowgill (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) each drove in four runs as the Dukes pounded out 15 hits against three FU pitchers. In the previous four games, the Dukes managed a total of 17 hits and three runs while striking out 49 times. There was only one strikeout on Friday.
Cowgill opened the scoring with a two-out, two-run double in the third. Kulbacki, who had a team-season-high three hits, laced a three-run double down the line in right to give the Dukes a 5-1 lead in the fourth and drove in another run with a single in a four-run fifth. Cowgill connected for a two-run homer in the seventh, the first round-tripper of the season for the Dukes.
Four other JMU players finished the cool afternoon with a pair of hits, including junior shortstop Davis Stoneburner (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin) and redshirt junior right fielder Mitchell Moses (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin). Both players knocked in a run. Senior first baseman Nate Schill (Audubon, N.J./Audubon) had a double among his two safeties, and redshirt junior catcher Dan Santobianco (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine) had a pair of hits.
Fairfield, which went 15-33 a year ago, was paced at the plate by junior second baseman Brian Schappert (Wyckoff, N.J./St. Joseph U.) who had a pair of hits, including a double. Sophomore designated hitter Peter Allen (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) drove in two ninth-inning runs with a double in the left-center gap.
JMU coach Spanky McFarland used a trio of youngsters to finish up the mound duties as Jason Kuhn (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point), Kurt Houck (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown) and Justin Wood (Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) each worked an inning.
 Game two of the three-game series is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday. Redshirt senior left-hander Greg Nesbitt
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Miller, Travis (1-1)
L: DeMarco (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Schappert 1 ; Allen 1
RBI: Arpino 1 ; Allen 2 ; Birrittella 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schappert 1 ; Hoban 1 ; DeSimone 1 ; Allen 1
SB: Schappert 1
HBP: Arpino 1
Batting:
2B: Kulbacki, Kellen 1 ; Cowgill, Michael 1 ; Schill, Nate 1
HR: Cowgill, Michael 1
RBI: Stoneburner, Davis 1 ; Kulbacki, Kellen 4 ; Cowgill, Michael 4 ; Moses, Mitchell 1 ; Lake, Joe 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Stoneburner, Davis 2 ; Kulbacki, Kellen 1 ; MacDougall, Matt 1 ; Cowgill, Michael 1 ; Bujakowski, Lee 1 ; Schill, Nate 1 ; Moses, Mitchell 1 ; Bristow, Matt 1 ; Lake, Joe 2 ; Santobianco, Dan 2
SB: Schill, Nate 1 ; Lake, Joe 1
HBP: MacDougall, Matt 1 ; Townsend, Matt 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
3
RBI
4
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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