VMI TOPS JAMES MADISON BASEBALL 10-4

Tuesday, April 26

Lexington, Va.

6:00 p.m.

James Madison University

27-15

VMI

21-19-1

James Madison

VMI

4/27/2011 1:01:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Va., April 26, 2011 - VMI used a five-run second inning to take an early 6-0 lead and defeated James Madison 10-4 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday night at Gray-Minor Stadium.

VMI improved to 21-19-1 overall while JMU fell to 27-15.

Catcher Alex Haitsuka was 3-for-5 with four RBIs for the Keydets, including three in the first two innings. First baseman George Piccirilli was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs. Left fielder Graham Sullivan was 2-for-3 with two walks and four runs scored. Shortstop Sam Roberts doubled, tripled, walked twice and drove in two. Second baseman Justin Hess and center fielder Rob Dickinson also had two hits in VMI's 15-hit attack.

Starter John Garrett earned the win after allowing one run on three hits in three innings. Freshman Ty McFarland (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) took the loss to fall to 1-2 after allowing four runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Sophomore right fielder Johnny Bladel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge), junior catcher Jake Lowery (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) and sophomore first baseman Matt Tenaglia (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) each had two of JMU's eight hits. Tenaglia extended his hitting streak to 10 games with six straight with two or more hits. Lowery had the only extra-base hit with a double and needs one more extra-base hit to match the JMU season record of 43.

The first two VMI batters went down quietly in the first before a four-pitch walk and a hit batter put two on base. Haitsuka then delivered a hard hit through the left side to score the first run of the game.

The Keydets again struck with two outs in the second. With a runner on first, Roberts hit a drove off the wall in straightaway center field while Hess followed with a single to right center to make it 3-0. After a pitching change, consecutive singles by Sullivan and Piccirilli brought in another run to make it 4-0. A single to right by Haitsuka added two more runs and made it 6-0.

JMU put together a two-out rally of its own in the third inning. The ninth batter for the Dukes was the first to reach base as sophomore left fielder Cole McInturff (Centreville, Va./Westfield) singled to right. Bladel singled and Lowery hit a sharp single to second that went off the glove into shallow right field allowing McInturff to score from second to make it 6-1.

After a first out in the fifth, Chase Worthington walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double to left by Roberts to make it 8-1.

The score held at 8-1 until the eighth. After a double play for two outs, Sullivan walked, Piccirilli singled and Haitsuka posted his fourth RBI with a single up the middle to make it 9-1. Dickinson followed with a double to the corner in right to make it 10-1.

In the ninth, senior shortstop David Herbek (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) walked, Tenaglia singled and redshirt senior center fielder Alex Foltz (Mathias, W.Va./East Hardy) walked to load the bases. Pinch hitter Billy Logan (Greenup, Ky./Greenup County) then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to make it 10-2. Freshman third baseman Conner Brown (Richmond, Va./Godwin) added a two-run single to right center to make it 10-4.

The game wrapped up an eight-game road stretch for the Dukes after going 4-4 during the swing. JMU returns home this weekend for a key Colonial Athletic Association series as the fourth-place Dukes host first-place UNC Wilmington.