Baseball Wins Series with 13-5 Decision over UMBC

Sunday, March 6

Harrisonburg, Va.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

5-6

UMBC

2-9

UMBC

James Madison

3/6/2016 5:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Redshirt junior starter Brandon Withers and sophomore designated hitter Bradley McKay turned in career days and James Madison collected a season-high 17 hits to defeat UMBC 13-5 in the decisive game of a three-game baseball series on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.

JMU improved to 5-6 with its third win in the last four games while UMBC fell to 2-9. Eight of the nine starters for the Dukes had hits as part of the 17-hit attack, and JMU scored in seven of its eight innings at the plate.

Making his third career start in three seasons, Withers doubled his longest career outing by going eight innings. He allowed five runs, four earned, and struck out four batters to improve to 1-1.

McKay finished the day 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored. His doubles, hits, runs and RBIs were each career highs. Redshirt senior shortstop Chad Carroll was 3-for-4 with a hit by pitch, two runs, a steal and an RBI. First baseman Brett Johnson, catcher Zach Tondi, third baseman Tanner Dofflemyer and center fielder Mike Sciorra each had two hits for the Dukes.

Starter Riley Stephenson (0-2) was tagged with the loss for UMBC after allowing eight runs, five earned, on 10 hits in five innings. Center fielder Andrew Casilli and designated hitter Connor Hax, who homered, each went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

JMU grabbed an early lead in the game with two in the first and one in the second. UMBC got its only significant damage against Withers with four runs in the fourth, but the Dukes responded with a four spot of their own and tacked on one in the fifth, two in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth en route to the 13-5 victory.

Quoting Coach Ikenberry
"I was proud of the way Brandon Withers pitched today. Aside from the big inning in the fourth, he pretty much dominated all day. I was excited to see him stay in the game and save the bullpen. We played offense for the first time how I think we can play every day. Bradley McKay coming off the bench, getting his first start as a DH and going 4-for-4. I thought we had great at bats and really forced the issue to score runs. I was proud of how our guys kept extending the lead, and it made it easy in the ninth to get three outs."

Photo of the Game
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Offensive Onslaught
Mike Sciorra and Chad Carroll packed a potent punch against the Retrievers, going 16-for-25 in the series in consecutive spots in the order (ninth and first). Both had multiple hits in each game of the series as Sciorra went 8-for-12 and Carroll 8-for-13. As a team, JMU hit .393 against UMBC and set a season high for hits in each game with 14 on Friday, 15 on Saturday and 17 on Sunday.

Third in Three Baggers
With his triple against UMBC, Chad Carroll climbed to a three-way tie for third on the JMU career list. He matched Jake Lowery (2009-11) and J.W. Mitchell (1976-78) on the chart.

On Deck
JMU will head south for games during spring break week, beginning with a Tuesday matchup at 4 p.m. at VMI.