Dukes Win Series Finale Over UNCW

Saturday, March 31

Wilmington, NC

Noon

James Madison University

UNCW

3/31/2018 3:29:00 PM | Softball

Box Score @JMUSoftball Box Score

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Sophomore Kate Gordon turned in a 3-for-3 performance at the plate and tied a program record with six RBIs to power James Madison to an 11-3, five-inning win at UNCW to clinch the Colonial Athletic Association softball series on Saturday afternoon.

JMU improved to 24-8 overall, 5-1 in league play by taking two of three against the Seahawks. UNCW fell to 10-19 and 1-5.

Gordon reached base with a single, two doubles and a walk. She tallied her 11th double of the season and extended her hitting streak to 13 games. Gordon drove in two runs with each hit and shares the single-game RBI record with Casey Mansfield, Morgan Heath, Erica Field and Megan Good.

Senior Morgan Tolle also had an impressive day at the plate going 3-for-3 and walking once. She scored twice and had two RBIs in the contest. It was her third game this season where she recorded three or more hits and her 11th game overall where she has turned in a multiple hit performance.

Freshman Payton Buresch hurled her seventh complete game of the season, upping her record in the circle to 12-4. She threw all five innings, just three runs on nine hits while striking out three.

Sara Jubas scored all three times she came to bat, going 2-for-3 with two singles. Freshman Hannah File recorded her first career double in the contest with a hard-hit ball to right field.

The Dukes jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the Seahawks responded in the bottom of the frame by plating two runs. The electric offense from the Dukes was too much to handle as they scored three in the second, four in the third and added the winning run in the fifth to run-rule UNCW for the second time this weekend.

QUOTING COACH LAPORTE
"We are happy to walk away with the series win after stumbling in the first game yesterday. We adjusted what we need to at the plate and came out battling every pitch till we made good contact. We do need to make some better plays in the field and in the circle, UNCW left a lot of runners on base today and we got stuck in some tough situations. Glad to get home and have the girls be able to enjoy a day off with Easter before we practice hard for our home series next weekend."

UP NEXT
The Dukes are back at Veterans Memorial Park and will face Delaware in a weekend series. First pitch for a twin bill is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday April 7.