Dukes Ride Hot Bats to 15-4 Win in Series Opener at Hofstra

Thursday, May 19

Hempstead, N.Y.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

21-29, 11-11

Hofstra

15-35, 5-16

James Madison

Hofstra

Dukes Ride Hot Bats to 15-4 Win in Series Opener at Hofstra

5/19/2016 7:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - James Madison pounded out 16 hits, including six for extra bases, on Thursday evening as the Dukes rolled to a 15-4 win at Hofstra in the first game of a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series at University Field.

The Dukes moved to 21-29 (11-11 CAA) with their third straight league victory, putting themselves one win away from clinching a berth in next week's 2016 CAA Baseball Championship. Hofstra fell to 15-35 (5-16 CAA) in the loss.

Sophomore catcher Zach Tondi continued his hot streak at the plate with a 3-for-5 afternoon that saw him drive in four runs and score two more. Tondi lifted his slugging percentage to a team-high .530 with a pair of doubles and a solo home run, his sixth of the season, to straightaway center in the ninth. The performance marked Tondi's second three-hit game in a row and fourth on the season, second-most on the team.

Five other Dukes chipped in two-hit afternoons, led by sophomore second baseman Kyle McPherson, who drove in two runs and scored two more, and junior first baseman Brett Johnson, who scored three times and added two RBIs.

Junior left fielder Ky Parrott, sophomore center fielder Mike Sciorra and sophomore third baseman Bradley McKay added two hits each, with Parrott tacking on a pair of walks to raise his on-base percentage to .498 on the season.

After fighting through a rocky first inning, senior left-hander Aaron Hoover settled into a groove, as he scattered seven hits and three runs across his six innings, striking out four as he improved to 6-4 on the season. Freshman Matt Marsili came on for the seventh, surrendering just three hits across the final three frames to notch his first career save.

Hofstra jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Dukes responded in short order with five third-inning runs, all of which came after the first two hitters of the frame were retired. JMU added three more on a walk and four singles in the fifth, before putting things out of reach with three more runs in the seventh to make the score 11-3.

Tondi opened a four-run ninth with his solo shot to center, with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and doubles from McKay and Parrott pushing the margin to 15-4.

Third baseman David Leiderman led the way for Hofstra's offense, going 3-for-5 with a ninth-inning home run, while starter Teddy Cillis took the loss to fall to 3-2 after getting tagged with eight runs across 4 2/3 innings.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I'm incredibly proud of how these guys played today. Aaron Hoover battled through the first inning to take us deep into another ballgame and our offense kept its foot on the gas the whole time. Zach Tondi, Kyle McPherson and Brett Johnson all had great days in the middle of our order and I was really happy to see Matt Marsili have a really good outing to get his first career save."

ONE WIN AWAY
At the conclusion of Friday's action, the Dukes' magic number for qualification to the CAA Tournament sits at just one. With Towson two games behind JMU in the standings, the next JMU win OR Towson loss--the Tigers are at Northeastern this weekend--will officially punch the Dukes' ticket to next weeks' six-team tournament in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., hosted by the College of Charleston from Wednesday-Saturday, May 25-28.

JMU is currently tied for fifth in the league with College of Charleston, which plays at William & Mary this weekend, with an 11-11 record in league play. Since the Dukes won two of three games against the Cougars last month in Charleston, JMU holds the tiebreaker over CofC. Both teams are just half a game behind fourth-seeded Northeastern with two league contests remaining.

WALKING TOWARDS THE RECORD
With two more walks on Thursday afternoon from junior Ky Parrott, the Herndon, Va. native now has 55 free passes this year, tied with Lorenzo Bundy's 1981 campaign for the second-most in a single-season in JMU history. The duo is just one free pass behind Kellen Kulbacki, who drew 56 during the 2007 season, a year that also saw him hit .398, garner First Team All-American honors and draw eight intentional walks.

UP NEXT
With inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday, the Dukes and Pride will close out the three-game series with a doubleheader on Friday, May 20, beginning at noon. Both games will be nine-inning contests, with live audio coverage provided by Hofstra.