UNCW Uses Late Surge to Hand Dukes Series-Opening Loss

Friday, May 13

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

18-28, 8-11

UNCW

35-11, 14-3

UNCW

James Madison

5/13/2016 11:08:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. - UNCW scored in four straight innings and held off a James Madison comeback on Friday night to hand the Dukes a 5-3 loss in the opener of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.

The Dukes, who dropped to 18-28 (8-11 CAA) with the loss, plated two runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to two, but could not complete the comeback as UNCW improved to 35-11 (14-3 CAA) on the season.

Junior first baseman Brett Johnson paced the JMU offense with a pair of hits, including an eighth inning double, while junior left fielder Ky Parrott blasted his fourth homer of the season on a 1-for-4 evening. Senior Chad Carroll, who scored twice, and sophomores Kyle McPherson and Zach Tondi all picked up a hit as well.

UNCW starter Ryan Foster kept the Dukes off-balance throughout the contest, surrendering just five hits and two runs across his seven complete innings as he improved to 11-1, tied for the national lead in wins. Coming in with no outs in the eighth, Austin Magestro was perfect across the final two frames to earn his second save.

JMU took the lead in the fourth after a trio of scoreless innings, as Carroll and Tondi bounced singles through the infield to put the Dukes up 1-0. The Seahawks responded with five straight runs from the fifth inning to the eighth to take a 5-1 lead before JMU responded.

After Parrott led off the bottom of the eighth with a blast down the right-field line, Carroll worked a five-pitch walk and Johnson dropped a double into shallow right field to put Dukes on second and third. McPherson drove a ball to center for his sixth sacrifice fly of the season, but JMU would get no closer as Magestro closed things out.

Senior left-hander Aaron Hoover was more than effective against the UNCW offense, which entered the weekend averaging a Division I-best 9.0 runs per game. Hoover gave up just six hits and a pair of runs in his 5 1/3 innings, striking out four.

Brian Mims, Gavin Stupienski and Zach Canada each delivered two hits for UNCW, as eight of the nine starters tallied at least one. Shortstop Kennard McDowell also went deep for the Seahawks, putting UNCW on the board with a fifth-inning homer to dead center.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I thought tonight was a really good college baseball game. We had opportunities with two outs, but couldn't quite get the big hit when we needed it. I am really proud of the way we pitched and played defense tonight."

UP NEXT
The Dukes and Seahawks will continue their three-game series with a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday, May 14, before closing the set out at 2 p.m. on Sunday. MadiZONE HD SportsNet presented by the JMU Alumni Association will provide live video coverage of both contests.