Baseball Drops CAA Opener at Elon in 10 Innings

Friday, March 20

Elon, N.C.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

9-9, 0-1

Elon

9-11, 1-0

James Madison

Elon

3/20/2015 10:54:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - Junior catcher Bobby San Martin went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, but the James Madison baseball team dropped a 10-inning, 5-4 heartbreaker at Elon in both teams' Colonial Athletic Association opener on Friday night.

The Dukes, who fell to 9-9 (0-1 CAA) with the loss, racked up 11 hits from five different hitters on the evening, but left 15 runners on base and did not score after the fourth inning. Elon left 10 runners on base, but used a three-run third inning to move to 9-11 (1-0 CAA) in 2015.

San Martin's career night at the plate paced the Dukes' offense on the evening, while junior shortstop Chad Carroll, freshman second baseman Kyle McPherson and senior right fielder Kevin Husum all tallied a pair of hits on the evening. Sophomore first baseman Brett Johnson also notched the second home run of his career with a solo blast in the second inning.

Elon jumped ahead early, scoring a run in the first on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly, but the Dukes struck back at the next opportunity.

With one out, Johnson jumped on the first pitch he saw, hammering it over the left field wall to tie things at 1-1. After a strikeout, Husum singled and San Martin doubled on consecutive pitches, then Husum scored on a wild pitch to put JMU up 2-1.

In the third inning, the Phoenix did the majority of their damage for the evening, all with two outs. After Hoover got a groundout and a flyout to start the frame, Elon scored three runs on four consecutive hits, including a pair of doubles, to jump out to a 4-2 lead.

JMU tied things up in the next inning, however, scoring a pair of runs in the fourth after loading the bases to open the inning. After sophomore left fielder Josh Wyatt walked, Husum singled and San Martin walked, another wild pitch pushed Wyatt across and sophomore Ky Parrott hit a sacrifice fly to center field to tie things at 4-4.

The fourth inning represented the last runs scored for either team until the game-winner in the 10th, though the Dukes stranded runners on second and third in the seventh and left the bases loaded in the eighth and 10th innings.

In the bottom of the 10th, sophomore Nick Zammarelli led off with a single, then advanced to second on an error and took third on a balk. Sophomore left-hander Michael Evans almost escaped the inning, picking up a pair of swinging strikeouts with Zammarelli standing on third before senior Andy Moore singled on the first pitch he saw to close the contest out at 5-4.

Junior left-hander Aaron Hoover threw six full innings in his fifth start of the year, but Evans took the loss after 3.1 innings of relief, striking out five and yielding just three hits, surrendering his only run in the 10th.

Right-hander Matt Harris started on the hill for Elon, giving up four runs in 6.1 innings, while Nick Beaulac threw 3.2 shutout innings in relief to earn the win and move to 2-0 on the year. Preseason CAA Player of the Year Casey Jones went 3-for-5 to lead the Phoenix' offense.

The Dukes will be back in action on Saturday afternoon for the second contest of this weekend's three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.