JMU Falls in Midweek Clash with VMI

Tuesday, March 28

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

16-7

VMI

11-13

VMI

James Madison

3/28/2017 11:03:00 PM | Baseball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison fell to VMI 6-1 in a midweek baseball contest at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park on Tuesday night.

The Dukes dropped their second game in a row to fall to 16-7 on the year, while the Keydets improved to 11-13. VMI outhit JMU by a small margin of 7-5, but the Dukes left nine runners on base.

Redshirt junior second baseman Josh Wyatt led the way for the Dukes at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two extra base hits. Wyatt smacked a triple off the right field fence in the fourth inning and knocked a double down the left field line in the eighth.

The Keydets opened the scoring in the fourth inning with three runs that would prove the difference. An RBI double by Peyton Maddox was followed by a two-run double from Jake Huggins to break the game open at 3-0.

The Dukes scored their lone run in the fifth inning to make the game 4-1 when junior right fielder Adam Sisk reached base on a fielder's choice, scoring junior third baseman Bradley McKay, who had reached base on a hit-by-pitch.

Zak Kent (2-2) earned the win for VMI on a scheduled staff day, while freshman Michael Bechtold (1-3) took the loss for the Dukes. Bechtold worked three scoreless innings with three strikeouts to start the game, but gave up four runs in the next one and one third innings.

PHOTO OF THE GAME
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Freshman pitcher Cam Vassar delivers a pitch in Tuesday's game against VMI. See the full gallery here.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I thought Bechtold threw really well again, he just ran out of gas after three innings. I was proud of the way the games came out tonight. We played pretty well, we just didn't execute when we needed to and left too many guys on base. Tip a cap to their pitching staff, they pitched us backwards and we didn't make any adjustments offensively. We have to come out and have a better approach next time."

UP NEXT
The Dukes travel to North Carolina for a three-game, Colonial Athletic Association series at Elon. Friday, March 31's game is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch.