Dukes Fall to George Mason in 11-Inning Heartbreaker

Tuesday, April 19

Fairfax, Va.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

15-22

George Mason

11-26

James Madison

George Mason

4/19/2016 9:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason right fielder Kevin Blackstone poked an RBI single up the middle to plate the winning run in the bottom of the 11th and hand James Madison a heartbreaking, 6-5 loss in non-conference action at Spuhler Field on Tuesday evening.

The Dukes battled back from deficits of 4-0 in the second inning and 5-2 in the seventh, but fell to 15-22 on the season with the loss while Mason improved to 11-26. Sophomore Mike Sciorra and juniors Ky Parrott and Brett Johnson each tallied a pair of hits for the Dukes, but JMU left 12 runners on base on the afternoon.

JMU's bullpen had a standout day, giving the Dukes a chance to work back into the contest. Freshman Tucker McCoy threw a scoreless sixth inning, before giving way to senior Mark Gunst, who struck out four across a pair of empty frames.

Gunst was tagged with a pair of singles to lead off the ninth, when he yielded to senior Ben Garner. After plunking his first batter to load the bases with no outs, Garner struck out the Patriots' 2-3-4 hitters in order, throwing just two balls across the three at-bats to escape the jam and keep JMU alive.

The teams would trade zeroes in the 10th before Mason used a hit-by-pitch and two singles to bring the winning run home in the bottom of the 11th.

The Patriots had jumped out with four runs in the second inning and a fifth in the third before the Dukes' bullpen quieted the storm. JMU scored a pair of runs in the third on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Adam Sisk and a single from sophomore Kyle McPherson.

JMU then plated two more in the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles from Sciorra and junior Zach Tondi to cut the lead to 5-4. With two outs in the eighth, Parrott launched a 1-0 fastball over the right field wall to tie it up and eventually force the extra innings.

Second baseman Alejandro Aponte, who tallied three hits, and catcher Tyler Nelin, who added a pair, were the only two Patriots to notch multiple hits on the evening. Ryan Ricci, who threw the final two innings without allowing a hit, picked up the win to improve to 1-1.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I was proud of the way we came back late to tie the game today. We had our chances to score more runs, but just didn't get off good swings. Daniel Pinson, Tucker McCoy, Mark Gunst and Ben Garner all gave us great outings today. Looking back, if we would've turned the double play in the second, we don't give up four runs and things are a little different."

SETTING THE TABLE
Before his clutch homer in the eighth, junior left fielder Ky Parrott pushed his career-best reached-base streak to 20 games with a first-pitch double to left field in the top of the third inning on Tuesday afternoon.

Parrott opened the season with a career-best 16-game streak, which ended after an 0-for-1 pinch-hit appearance against Monmouth on March 15. He then began his current streak in the very next contest, meaning the Herndon, Va. native has reached base in 36 of 37 games this season and has done so in all 36 contests in which he has started.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will hit the road again this week, traveling south to Charleston, S.C. to take on College of Charleston in a three-game CAA series from Friday-Sunday, April 22-24. First pitches are set for 6 p.m. on Friday evening, 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars are 21-14-1 (5-4 CAA) after being dealt a surprising three-game sweep at Hofstra this past weekend, but travel to Coastal Carolina for a 6 p.m. contest on Wednesday evening.