JMU RIDES LONGBALL TO 8-3 BASEBALL WIN OVER LIBERTY

Wednesday, March 14

Harrisonburg, Va.

2:30 PM

James Madison University

4-12

Liberty

12-7

Liberty

James Madison

3/14/2007 4:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., March 14, 2007 ? James Madison University belted a season-high four home runs to defeat Liberty University 8-3 in a non-conference baseball game on Wednesday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.

JMU improved to 4-12 overall and won its third straight after a 10-game losing streak. Liberty fell to 12-7 and dropped its third in a row after winning 11 of 12.

JMU got home runs from redshirt freshman Steven Caseres (New City, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional), sophomore Brett Garner (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock), senior Mitchell Moses (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin), and freshman Alex Foltz (Mathias, W.Va./East Hardy). Each player hit his first home run of the season.

Foltz finished with a career-high four RBIs, with three coming on the home run. Caseres and Garner each had two hits in the game.

Sophomore Justin Wood (Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) picked up his first win of the season for the Dukes. He worked 5 1/3 innings, scattering nine hits and surrendering one run. Senior Bobby Lasko (Athens, Pa./Athens Area) picked up his first save of the season. It was the seventh of his career, moving him into fourth place on the all-time list.

Sophomore starter Andrew Wilson (Cary, N.C./Cary Senior) took the loss for the Flames after surrendering four runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Junior Aaron Grijalva (Redlands, Calif./East Redlands Valley) and sophomore Tommy Bussey (Boynton Beach, Fla./King's Academy) each had three hits and scored a run for Liberty. Junior David Giammaresi (Coral Springs, Fla./Westminster Academy) and senior Tim Nanry (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chilli) added two hits apiece.

Caseres got the Dukes started when he sent an opposite-field home run over the wall in left center on the first pitch he saw in the second inning. It was his first career home run at JMU. Garner sent a ball the same direction that bounced against the wall for a double. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI grounder by Foltz.

The Dukes doubled their output on a low line drive by Moses that just made it over the fence in front of the right field scoreboard for a two-run homer.

Liberty led off the sixth with a double and single with no outs. After a lineout to left field, the Dukes brought in redshirt senior Allie Swanson (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield) who gave up an RBI groundout but prevented further damage with a strikeout to retire the side.

Garner stroked an opposite-field home run to right center for his first home run of the season to help JMU regain a four-run margin in the bottom of the sixth.

The Flames took advantage of two JMU errors in the seventh to score a pair of unearned runs. Giammaresi came around to score from second when second baseman Mike Fabiaschi (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) had an errant throw on a double play attempt. The third LU run of the game came in on an RBI single by Nanry.

JMU had a chance to blow the game open in the seventh. After a one-out single, the Dukes loaded the bases with two down with a single and a walk. Kellen Kulbacki (Palmyra, Pa./Hershey) came close to his fifth home run of the season, but Nanry was able to make the catch right at the fence in left field for the final out.

With the opportunity missed in the seventh inning, the Dukes took advantage this time in the eighth as Foltz launched his first career home run to left center, a three run blast for an 8-3 lead.

JMU will hit the road this weekend for a three-game Colonial Athletic Association conference set at VCU. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at The Diamond.