LONGWOOD OUTLASTS JMU BASEBALL 9-8 IN 11 INNINGS

Tuesday, March 29

Farmville, Va.

3:00 p.m.

James Madison University

18-8

Longwood

19-10

James Madison

Longwood

3/29/2011 7:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va., March 29, 2011 - James Madison committed a season-high six errors and Longwood used a fielder's choice ground ball in the 11^th inning to pull out a 9-8 win in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday afternoon at Bolding Stadium.

Longwood improved to 19-10 while JMU fell to 18-8.

JMU entered the game leading the Colonial Athletic Association with a .976 fielding percentage. However, the Dukes matched their season-high for errors with three in the first inning. The team's exchanged leads four times in the game before JMU tied it at 8-8 in the eighth to send it to extra innings.

In the 11^th, the final JMU error came back to bite the Dukes. Two Lancers went down in order before a grounder to shortstop resulted in a high throw to extend the inning. That was followed by a pair of walks to load the bases. Second baseman Brant Jones then bounced a sharp grounder to third with freshman Tyler McFarland (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) making a lunging stop. He stepped on third base but field umpire John Thomas ruled that shortstop Matt Dickason slid in safely, allowing the winning run to score.

Matt Gwaltney earned the win in relief for Longwood after allowing one hit in the final three innings to improve to 4-3. Mark Montgomery blew the save in the eighth for the Lancers with one run allowed after having not allowed a run and just seven hits in his 18 innings of work this season.

Sophomore Nick Slogik (Strongsville, Ohio/St. Edward) took the loss for the Dukes. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in the final 4 2/3 innings. JMU used four pitchers in the game while issuing 10 walks. The first four walks each came around to score while the last two contributed to loading the bases for the game-winning run.

Senior shortstop David Herbek (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) drove in five runs for the Dukes while going 3-for-5 with his 10^th double. Junior catcher Jake Lowery (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) walked four times and hit his national-leading 12^th home run of the season. Sophomore designated hitter Billy Logan (Greenup, Ky./Greenup County) had two hits with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored.

Center fielder Chris Briere was 2-for-4 with a two-run home run for the Lancers and three runs scored. Left fielder Michael Sims and catcher Scott Burkett each had two hits with a run, walk and RBI.

Lowery put the Dukes on the board quickly in the first inning as he nailed the first pitch he saw to center for a solo home run, his 12^th of the season.

Longwood answered in the first as JMU committed three errors in the inning, matching its season high for miscues in a game. Dickason walked and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. The first error put runners on the corners. Burkett then sent a bouncer to shortstop for a difficult double-play chance. The Dukes got the out at second but the hurried throw to first sailed high for an error with the run scoring from third. An error by freshman starting pitcher Luke Munson (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) on a tapper back to the mound put runners on the corners again, but a strikeout ended the frame with a 1-1 tie.

The Lancers came back again in the second with a leadoff walk coming around to score for the second straight inning. First baseman Robby Newman walked and after a strikeout, Briere hit a ball up the middle that just glanced off the diving glove of Shaban. Another single by Dickason drove in a run to make it 2