Offensive Explosion Leads JMU Baseball to Doubleheader Split on Sunday

Sunday, March 1

Harrisonburg, Va.

11 a.m.

James Madison University

6-4

Rider

6-3

Rider

James Madison

Offensive Explosion Leads JMU Baseball to Doubleheader Split on Sunday

3/1/2020 7:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 JMU Baseball Doubleheader Against Rider

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The JMU baseball team's (7-4) bats came alive in game two, scoring 16 times and knocking 19 hits, as the Dukes bounced back from a game one loss to split the doubleheader with Rider on Sunday at Eagle Field.

GAME 1 | Rider 3, JMU 2
The Dukes' six-game win streak was halted by Rider in a 3-2 loss on Sunday morning. The game was game one of a doubleheader.

Freshman Chase DeLauter started for the Dukes and went four innings, striking out four and allowed three runs. Junior Michael Bechtold came in for relief and finished the game by tossing five shutout innings, allowing two hits, with one walk and two strikeouts.

Junior Conor Hartigan led the way offensively for the Dukes, going 2-for-3 in the ballgame with a walk and an RBI. Sophomore Josh Jones knocked in the only other run for the Dukes on a 1-for-4 day at the plate.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Rider scored first, putting together a run without registering a hit in the top of the first. The Dukes responded with Hartigan lacing an RBI single to score DeLauter.

The Broncs would retake the lead in the third, and then make it a two-score ballgame in the fourth with a 3-1 score. The Dukes would manage to score another run in the eighth on an RBI single by Jones to make the score 3-2, but that's all JMU would be able to muster as the Broncs took home a 3-2 game one win.

GAME FACTS
» The Dukes drew five walks from Rider pitching.
» Hartigan led the Dukes at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

GAME 2 | JMU 16, Rider 2
Junior Michael Morgan and sophomore Nick Zona set career highs in game two of Sunday's doubleheader to pace the Dukes to a 16-2 win.

Junior Justin Showalter picked up his third win of the season. The right-hander went 6.2 innings, giving up two runs, zero earned, on five hits, allowing one walk and striking out seven. Senior Garrett Richards saw his first action on the mound since 2018 and hurled 1.1 innings with a strikeout in relief.

Morgan hit a career high five hits, and scored four runs while knocking in two. Zona put put together a spectacular game as well, going 3-for-4 with a double and a career high five RBI's. DeLauter and Hartigan both put together 2-for-3 games at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored each.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Dukes pushed a run across first, scoring one run in the first on a Hartigan single. They'd put together two more runs in the second on a Trevon Dabney two-run single to make it 3-0.

JMU would put up five runs in the fourth via a double, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, and a Rider throwing error before adding three more in the sixth on RBI singles from Morgan and Zona to make it 11-0 in favor of the hosts heading to the seventh inning.

Rider would manage to get two unearned runs across in the top of the seventh to end the shutout and make it an 11-2 game. JMU responded with five more runs in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by a two-run double from the bat of Zona, to make it a 16-2 host advantage.

Richards and freshman Matthew Kleinfelter would finish the game up as JMU would split the doubleheader with the 16-2 victory.

GAME FACTS
» Morgan finished the entire day 6-for-7 with four runs scored and two RBI.
» Showalter had a season high seven strikeouts.
» Morgan is the first Duke to register five hits in a game since Zona did it last season against Lehigh.
» JMU scored five times in two separate innings.
» Overall the team hit a combined .452 (19-42) today.
» Showalter put together 6.2 innings of two-run ball for the Dukes.
» Four Dukes had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Dukes out-hit the Broncs at a 19-5 clip.
» JMU turned four double plays in the ballgame.
» The Dukes swiped five bases as a team.
» JMU went 11-for-24 (.458) with runners in scoring position.
» JMU pitchers limited Rider to just 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
» The Dukes drew eight walks from Rider pitching.

QUOTING HEAD COACH MARLIN IKENBERRY
"I was excited the way our offense came out in game two," said Ikenberry. "Michael Morgan and Nick Zona had big career days, and our bats gave us an early lead that we kept for the entire game. Overall our team did a great job responding to game one's result earlier in the day, and I'm excited for what this offense can really do. Justin Showalter did a great job on the mound, and our pitching staff did well to wrap up the game. It was a good way to finish up this home stand."

UP NEXT
James Madison has the week off before they travel to High Point from March 6-8 to take on the Panthers. First pitched for game one of the three game series is scheduled for 4 p.m.