DUKES BATTLE BACK FOR 13-12 NCAA WIN OVER 49ERS

Saturday, May 31

Raleigh, N.C.

2:00 PM

James Madison University

39-18

Charlotte

43-16

Charlotte

James Madison

5/31/2008 4:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Photo Gallery

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 31, 2008 ? Trailing 10-2 at the halfway point, James Madison fought back to outscore Charlotte 11-1 over the next two and a half innings and held on for a 13-12 win in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon in the Raleigh Regional of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Championship at Doak Field at Dail Park.

"I think that was a great college baseball game," commented JMU head coach Spanky McFarland. "Obviously there were mistakes made by both teams, but you had two clubs that fought and clawed and didn't want to go home. It was very entertaining and obviously both teams left it out on the field."

Fourth-seeded JMU improved to 39-18 overall and picked up its seventh win in eight games. Charlotte, the #3 seed, finished its season at 43-16. The 49ers went 0-2 in the regional after entering the weekend having won 11 of 12. The NCAA tournament win for the Dukes was the first since 2002 in a 5-2 triumph over VCU in the Columbia, S.C. Regional.

With the victory, the Dukes advance to Sunday's 1 p.m. contest against the #2 seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks fell to #1 N.C. State Saturday night by a final of 5-4.

The game featured 25 runs, 32 hits, 24 runners left on base (16 by Charlotte), 12 pitchers (a season-high seven by JMU), and lasted three hours and 57 minutes, the longest nine-inning game of the year for the Dukes.

JMU trailed 10-2 when it came to the plate in the fifth inning. However, similar to last Friday when the Dukes battled back from a 9-3 deficit against George Mason in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, JMU charged back with two in the fifth and six runs in the sixth to tie the score.

Stated redshirt junior Brett Sellers (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim), "We've done it before. A lot of times in conference we had to come back. There was never a doubt that we could do it. It was just a matter of when we were going to do it. We just put it in our minds that it was what we were going to do. Both teams just hung on each other and played good baseball. We were fortunate to come out on top."

Charlotte went back in front, 11-10, in the top of the seventh when Chris Taylor reached on a one-out single and scored on Aaron Bray's fly to left after adv

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Next Event

South Carolina

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Jun 1 (Sun)

1:00 PM

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Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Phelps, Turner (8-0)

L: Sam Pierce (4-1)

S: Knight, Trevor (6)

Charlotte

Batting:

2B: Shayne Moody 1 ; Rob Lyerly 1

HR: O'Brien Taylor 1 ; Aaron Bray 1

RBI: O'Brien Taylor 2 ; Shayne Moody 2 ; Rob Lyerly 2 ; Chris Taylor 1 ; Corey Shaylor 2 ; Aaron Bray 2

SF: Rob Lyerly 1 ; Aaron Bray 1

Base Running:

RUNS: O'Brien Taylor 4 ; Shayne Moody 1 ; Rob Lyerly 2 ; Chris Taylor 2 ; Aaron Bray 1 ; Cory Tilton 1 ; Alan Parks 1

SB: O'Brien Taylor 2 ; Shayne Moody 1 ; Cory Tilton 2 ; Alan Parks 1

HBP: O'Brien Taylor 2 ; Mike Perkins 1

James Madison

Batting:

2B: Foltz, Alex 1 ; Sellers, Brett 1 ; Caseres, Steven 1 ; Knight, Trevor 1 ; Langston, McKinnon 1

3B: Browning, Matt 1

HR: Sellers, Brett 1

RBI: Foltz, Alex 3 ; Lake, Joe 1 ; Sellers, Brett 3 ; Caseres, Steven 2 ; Knight, Trevor 2 ; Langston, McKinnon 1

SH: Lake, Joe 1 ; Garner, Brett 1

SF: Lake, Joe 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Foltz, Alex 2 ; Lake, Joe 1 ; Sellers, Brett 3 ; Caseres, Steven 1 ; Browning, Matt 2 ; Langston, McKinnon 1 ; Garner, Brett 1 ; Herbek, David 2