Dukes Edge UMass Lowell, 5-4

Friday, March 16

Harrisonburg, Va.

5:30 p.m.

James Madison University

11-7

UMass Lowell

6-9

UMass Lowell

James Madison

3/16/2018 9:51:00 PM | Baseball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison scored five unanswered runs to pull off the comeback and beat UMass Lowell, 5-4 in non-conference baseball action at Eagle Field on Friday night.

The River Hawks (6-9) stormed out to a quick 3-0 lead after the first inning and held the Dukes (11-7) hitless until the fourth inning, but JMU starting knocking hits and slowed down UMass Lowell's bats after the fourth inning, only allowing one hit over the last four innings.

Sophomore Fox Semones led the way at the plate, turning in his sixth two-hit game of the season adding three RBI on the night. Fellow sophomore Matt Dipasupil also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with one run scored and a RBI.

On the mound, sophomore Brett Ayer earned his first career win (1-0) after entering the game in the seventh inning and pitching a career-high three innings with striking out a career-high seven batters in 10 batters faced.

UMass Lowell increased its lead to 4-0 after the top half of the fourth before Dipasupil and freshman Michael Morgan hit RBI singles in the bottom half of the frame, to decrease the deficit to 4-2. Semones dropped a sacrifice bunt that scored a run in the fifth inning, to bring the score to 4-3 then he hit a single down the right field line that drove in two runs in the bottom of the seventh, leading to the final score, 5-3.

QUOTING COACH IKE
"I was really proud of the way our guys kept competing, after being down 4-0 in the fourth. I thought our short game was on point and that helped us get back in the game and eventually win the game. Our bullpen was amazing tonight, Justin Showalter, Tucker McCoy and Brett Ayer all did a fantastic job. Give credit to Ayer for coming in and throwing three innings and getting his first career win."

UP NEXT
James Madison will play game two of the series against UMass Lowell on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Eagle Field.