Dukes Cruise to 9-3 Win Over Bucknell in Season Opener

Friday, February 19

Harrisonburg, Va.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

1-0

Bucknell

0-1

Bucknell

James Madison

2/19/2016 7:54:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. - Sophomore second baseman Kyle McPherson and junior first baseman Brett Johnson each hit home runs on Friday afternoon as James Madison opened up the 2016 baseball season with a 9-3 victory over Bucknell at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.

Senior left-hander Aaron Hoover gave the Dukes (1-0) six strong innings to open the season, as the Centreville, Va., native gave up just five hits and a run without yielding a walk in the JMU debut of Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry.

McPherson, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, two RBIs and three runs on the afternoon, kicked off his sophomore campaign in style, hammering the eighth pitch of his first at-bat over the center-field wall to stake the Dukes a 2-0 first-inning lead that they would not relinquish.

After senior third baseman Kyle Weston and junior left fielder Josh Wyatt notched fifth-inning RBIs, Johnson would put the contest out of reach in the sixth inning, when he extended JMU's lead to 8-1 with a first-pitch, three-run shot to left field.

Senior shortstop Chad Carroll notched a pair of doubles and stole a base on a 2-for-5 day, while sophomore center fielder Mike Sciorra went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs.

Hoover picked up the win on the afternoon to start his year 1-0, while Andrew Andreychik took the loss for the Bison after 4.1 innings of work yielded five runs, though just two were earned, on five hits. JMU went deep into at-bats, forcing Andreychik to throw 99 pitches without escaping the fifth inning.

Third baseman Sam Clark went 2-for-4 with a seventh-inning home run to pace the Bucknell offense.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I'm extremely proud of how well our guys prepared for this afternoon's game. Aaron Hoover gave us a great start on the mound and we got really good at-bats from everyone, especially at the top of our order. We're proud to open up the season with a win."

TWEET OF THE GAME

That feeling when you open the 2016 season with a win! #GoDukes pic.twitter.com/IbGs5qh3HW
— JMUSports (@JMUSports) February 19, 2016

MULTI-HOMER GAMES
With McPherson and Johnson both leaving the yard on Friday, the Dukes already have their first multi-home run game of the season. Last season, JMU tallied nine such performances, going 7-2 in those decisions, but did not notch its first until a March 1 win over Quinnipiac.

PHOTO OF THE GAME - COMPLETE PHOTO GALLERY
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Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry exchanges the lineups prior to his first game as the sixth coach in program history. Ikenberry won a school-record 282 games at VMI from 2004-14 before accepting the job as the Dukes' skipper on June 30, 2015.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will play the second and third games of this weekend's four-game set on Saturday, Feb. 20, when they face Bucknell in a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Sophomore left-hander Colton Harlow is scheduled to start game one, while junior righty Brandon Withers will get the ball in game two.