JMU CARRIES TOP SEED INTO CAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP THURSDAY

After winning all eight series and posting an 18-6 mark in conference play, James Madison will be the top seed for the Colonial Athletic Association baseball championship with games getting underway Thursday at UNC Wilmington's Brooks Field. JMU will face the host Seahawks at 7 p.m.

The tournament will open at 3 p.m. with a tilt between second-seeded Georgia State (34-21-1, 17-6-1 CAA) and third-seeded VCU (31-23-1, 16-7-1 CAA). That will be followed by the JMU (29-21, 18-6 CAA) vs. UNCW (30-25, 13-11 CAA) game at 7 p.m. On Friday, the two losing teams meet at noon and the winners at 3:30 p.m. The noon winner will face the loser of the afternoon game in a 7 p.m. bout. The two remaining teams then square off at 1 p.m. Saturday with a possible second game in the double-elimination format immediately afterwards.

JMU will be aiming for its second CAA championship, the other coming in the last time the Dukes competed on Brooks Field in 2008. That year JMU went through the six-team bracket unscathed with a 4-0 mark.

The 2010 field of four teams features the last four CAA champions. Georgia State is the defending winner from 2009. JMU won in 2008, VCU in 2007, and UNCW in 2006. Altogether, the four teams account for the last eight CAA championships.

In 2010, JMU was the preseason pick to win the CAA and won all eight series in league play to follow through with the first-place finish. It was the fifth time in the last 10 years that the preseason favorite finished first in the standings. On two of the four previous occasions the same team went on to win the championship, both by VCU in 2003 and 2007.

A major factor in JMU's first-place finish and perfect series mark was an 8-0 slate in game three of series along with a 6-2 showing in series openers. JMU went 10-2 in home CAA games with sweeps of Delaware and William and Mary to go with taking two of three against UNC Wilmington and Towson. On the road, the Dukes went 8-4, taking two of three each against George Mason, Old Dominion, Hofstra, and VCU.

In conference games, JMU has presented the league's best offense, leading the CAA in league play in average (.344), on-base percentage (.430), slugging percentage (.592), runs (203), hits (291), doubles (66), triples (18), RBIs (191), steals (47), and sacrifice flies (24). The Dukes also led the league in conference games with a .978 fielding percentage, ranked fifth with a 5.36 staff ERA, and were second with a .265 opponent batting average. The negative statistic for JMU has been the walks issued, ranking 10^th of 11 teams with 4.94 walks surrendered per nine innings.

Three individuals have hit better than .400 in the league, led by Mike Fabiaschi, whose hot end to the season raised his CAA average to .424, meaning that four of the league's top six hitters in league play were second baseman (#1 VCU's Richard Gonzalez .474, #3 Hofstra's Matt Prokopowicz .457, #5 GSU's Rob Lind .430). In addition to Fabiaschi, Matt Browning was eighth in league play with a .408 average and Trevor Knight was ninth at .404. Knight led the league in total bases with 81 while Browning was second in slugging percentage at .765. Matt Townsend led the league with an average of one walk per game (24 total).

On the mound, Kevin Munson led the CAA in league ERA with a mark of 0.61 after allowing only a pair o

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