JMU Falls To Elon, 8-2

Saturday, March 24

Harrisonburg, Va.

4:30 p.m.

James Madison University

13-9, 1-1

Elon

12-11, 1-1

Elon

James Madison

3/24/2018 10:09:00 PM | Baseball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison could not overcome an early deficit and dropped an 8-2 decision to Elon in Colonial Athletic Association baseball action at Eagle Field on Saturday evening.

The Dukes (13-9, 1-1 CAA) turned in their eighth double-digit hit performance of the season but were unable to slow down the Phoenix's (12-11, 1-1 CAA) bats in the slugfest on the night.

Freshman Josh Jones extended his hit streak to 11 games, going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a RBI and a walk while freshman Michael Morgan racked up the second RBI in the game alongside a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, his first multi-hit game of the season.

On the mound, sophomore Kevin Kelly received the loss (1-2) after tossing four innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts, matching his season high.

Elon stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, scoring a run off an error, a single and a double play. The Phoenix would increase their lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning, as two singles through the right side drove in a run apiece.

JMU plated both of its runs in the sixth inning off a RBI single from Jones and a sacrifice fly to center field by Morgan drove in the second run, to bring the score to 5-2. A sacrifice fly in the seventh and a RBI single along with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning gave Elon its final three runs of the game, leading to the final score, 8-2.

QUOTING COACH IKE
"Elon had a big inning in the third and it just felt like we were playing catchup after that. We have to pitch and play defense and not give up free bases, which was the bottom line of this game. I was really pleased with the way we swung the bat up and down our lineup, we just didn't get that big hit when we had guys in scoring position."

UP NEXT
JMU will play the rubber match against Elon on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Eagle Field.