HARRISONBURG, Va. – Freshman
Ryan Dooley hit the first two homers of his collegiate career on Saturday afternoon to lift James Madison baseball to an 8-1 victory and a series win over Northeastern at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Dukes move to 19-15, 6-5 and pick up their first series win against NU since 2016, while the Huskies fall to 17-17-1, 3-8.
Redshirt senior
Liam McDonnell moved to an impressive 5-0 on the season behind five scoreless innings and a season-high tying five strikeouts. Dooley went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Dukes with two home runs, two runs scored, and two RBI's.
How It Happened
The Dukes were able to score eight runs over the span of the first five innings to get out in front and never look back. Dooley started the scoring off in the second inning on a solo shot to center field for his first career home run. In the third, redshirt junior
Trevon Dabney led off by getting hit by a pitch before being followed by a home run off the bat of classmate
Kyle Novak to give the Dukes a 3-0 lead.
In the fourth, Dooley connected on his second homer of the game, a solo shot over the right field wall. After an error and a single, Dabney knocked in a second run in the inning on a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-0. The Dukes then added three more runs in the fifth inning, with three base hits to start the inning. After redshirt junior
Travis Reifsnider singled to lead off the inning, freshman
Fenwick Trimble hit his team-leading 12
th double of the season to bring home Reifsnider. Redshirt junior
Carson Bell then followed Trimble with a home run to center field to make it 8-0.
Northeastern was able to score an unearned run in the sixth to make it 8-1, but the bullpen combination of sophomore
Nick Hammer and redshirt freshman
Michael Stewart kept the Huskies at bay. The duo combined to allow only two hits and two walks over four innings of work to preserve the 8-1 win.
Game Notes
- Trevon Dabney's hit by pitch was his 20th of the season, making it the third time a Duke has hit the threshold in a single season. Dabney also becomes the only Duke in program history to record two 20 hit by pitch seasons, as he was hit 24 times in 2019.
- Ryan Dooley recorded the first three-hit game of his career.
- The Dukes combined to hit four home runs, tying their season-high. JMU also hit four home runs in the first game against Tennessee that went to extra innings.
- JMU's pitching combined to only allow four hits and one run, their lowest hits and runs allowed since allowing two hits and one run to Winthrop earlier in the season.
Up Next
The teams meet for the final time on Sunday, April 16 for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Veterans Memorial Park. The game will be streamed on FloSports.