HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison evened the series against Albany at 1 apiece, after pulling out a 4-3 win in non-conference baseball action at Eagle Field on Saturday evening.
The Dukes (4-2) saw themselves trailing early in the third inning as Albany (1-1) plated a run off a fielding error then adding another run as the runner on third scored off a rundown play in in the first to second base path.
Sophomore
Kyle Hayes knocked a single up the middle that scored freshman
Josh Jones from second in the fourth inning. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, senior
Zach Tondi drew a walk to bring home Hayes from third to even the score at two.
Albany would regain the lead in the top half of the fifth, plating one run off a wild pitch. In the bottom half of the fifth, senior
Mike Sciorra drove in two runs off a single up the middle, scoring sophomores
Fox Semones and
Harry Brown, leading to the final score, 4-3.
Semones finished the night going 2-for-4 at the plate with a run, while Sciorra went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a walk.
On the mound, junior
Dan Goggin started the game and threw six innings with seven strikeouts, both career highs, while giving up three hits and two walks to receive his second win on the season (2-0). Junior
Garrett Richards came in after Goggin to earn his first save by throwing career-highs in three innings and five strikeouts.
QUOTING COACH IKE
"Goggin did an awesome job pitching six innings, and Richards as well, coming out of the bullpen throwing three scoreless innings and getting his first save of his career. I was proud of how our guys competed tonight. Hayes had a big hit to help us score runs in the middle innings to take the lead and take over the game."
UP NEXT
James Madison will look to clinch the weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Albany at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.