DUKES PITCHING SHUTS DOWN TERPS IN 8-3 WIN

Wednesday, April 28

College Park, Md.

6:00 PM

James Madison University

21-19

Maryland

15-30

James Madison

Maryland

4/29/2010 2:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 28, 2010 - Four James Madison pitchers combined to limit Maryland to five hits in an 8-3 baseball victory on Wednesday evening at Shipley Field.

JMU improved to 21-19 and swept the season series over Maryland of the ACC. The Dukes also won 6-2 in Harrisonburg in March. The win snapped a six-game losing skid in non-conference games.

JMU head coach Spanky McFarland commented on the win, "It's good to get back in the winning column in a mid-week game. We've been struggling a little bit there. It was great to see Evan Scott in his first start, second outing. He was on a pitch count and a little erratic, but his velocity is coming back, so that's exciting. We got James Weiner in at the end of the game, which was nice after he was out for two weeks. Then Josh Futter did a nice job pitching in his home state. It sets our pitching up pretty well for the weekend."

The five hits surrendered matched a season low by JMU. The Terps had just one hit through the first six innings and had just one extra-base hit in the game, a double in the eighth.

Maryland entered the game with a .256 batting average. McFarland thought the key was making the Terrapins put the ball in play and not help the opponent with free bases. He said, "That was the approach but it didn't work very well. They do a lot of different things with slashing and fake bunting. They get on top the plate and try to work the count. That got to us a little bit. But they're not a great hitting team, so you have to make them swing the bat. When we got in trouble, it was the walks and hit batters. All things considered we handled it pretty well."

Sophomore Josh Futter (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) had one of the best efforts of his career. He allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits in 5 2/3 innings to improve to 2-0. His four strikeouts were a career best while he was one out shy of matching his career high. Futter at one point retired seven straight and did not allow a hit in his first 3 2/3 innings.

McFarland said of Futter's outing, "I think with their hitting approach, it worked for Josh tonight. He was up in the zone a little bit. Against some other teams, they might have hit it a little bit, but it worked tonight. He also had a number of strikeouts and threw some great sliders. He's getting better. Maybe like last year, he'll have a great second half."

The game also featured two pitchers returning from setbacks. Sophomore Evan Scott (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) made his first start since last May after missing all summer, fall, and the first half of the season due to injury. On a tight pitch count, he allowed one run on one hit in 1 2/3 innings. Junior James Weiner (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield) got the final out after sitting out the last two weeks with a leg injury.

Four JMU batters had multiple hits. Junior shortstop David Herbek (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) singled and homered. Redshirt junior first baseman Trevor Knight (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield) had a triple and an RBI single. Freshman outfielder Johnny Bladel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Senior Matt Browning (Mystic, Conn./Fitch) had a pair of hits and fellow senior Mike Fabiaschi (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) had a two-run single.

McFarland stated of the offensive performance, "I thought our hitters did a nice job of adjusting.&nb