Dukes Rally Falls Short in Series Finale Against Charleston

Sunday, April 9

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

17-13, 3-6

College of Charleston

16-16, 7-2

Coll. of Charleston

James Madison

Dukes Rally Falls Short in Series Finale Against Charleston

4/9/2017 7:21:00 PM | Baseball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison rallied from nine runs down to within one of College of Charleston, but ultimately fell 12-11 in the finale of a Colonial Athletic Association baseball series at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Dukes fell to 17-13 on the season and 3-6 in CAA play, while the Cougars took the series and improved to 16-16 overall and 7-2 in the league.

College of Charleston held an 11-2 advantage going into the bottom of the fifth, where the Dukes notched two RBI groundouts from junior center fielder Mike Sciorra and redshirt senior first baseman Brett Johnson to cut the lead to 11-4.

JMU's bats exploded for the six runs in the sixth inning to pull within 11-10. Redshirt junior second baseman Josh Wyatt started the scoring by crossing the plate on a wild pitch. The Dukes then got three consecutive RBI singles from redshirt junior designated hitter Zach Tondi, freshman third baseman Fox Semones, and junior catcher Ryan Coale. Senior left fielder Ky Parrott put an exclamation mark on the inning by crushing a two-run double off the fence in center field.

After the Cougars added a run in the top of the seventh to go ahead 12-10, the Dukes pulled within one again when Tondi was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score junior right fielder Adam Sisk.

Parrott led the Dukes with four RBIs, going 2-for-5 with a double and a home run. Semones collected three hits with two runs and an RBI.

Jakob Frishmuth earned the win for College of Charleston despite allowing eight runs in five innings to improve to 2-2. Carter Love picked up his second save of the year after three scoreless innings. Junior right-hander Josh Silvestri took the loss for the Dukes, falling to 2-2 after allowing five runs, three earned, in three and one thirds innings.

QUOTING COACH IKENBERRY
"I thought our guys battled all game. Coming back from being down nine runs in the bottom of the fifth was huge, we just couldn't find the big hit when we needed it in the seventh and eighth. Leaving five runners on base in those innings really hurt us."

UP NEXT
The Dukes are back at VMP on Tuesday, April 11 to host Liberty at 6 p.m. Admission to all regular season home games is free, and the first 100 students at Tuesday's game get free ice cream.