Dukes Split Doubleheader in Final Non-Conference Series

Saturday, March 11

Spartanburg, S.C.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

9-6

USC Upstate

8-8

James Madison

USC Upstate

3/11/2023 7:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – James Madison baseball closed out its final non-conference series by splitting a doubleheader with USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon at Harley Park. The Dukes took the first game, 2-1, before falling to the hosts, 9-6, in game two.

The Dukes now sit at 9-7 while the Spartans are 9-8.

Junior Ryan Murphy earned the win in game one after going a career-high tying eight innings, striking out a career-high seven while allowing a run, two walks and four hits. Classmate Joe Vogatsky earned his first career save in an inning of work. Redshirt junior Donovan Burke started the second game and went 2.1 innings with a strikeout, while giving up five runs and earning a no-decision.

Jake Cubbler earned the win in game two for USC Upstate.

Game One
Upstate scored first to begin the afternoon, using back-to-back singles in the second inning to put a runner on second before Easton Cullison used the third Spartans single of the inning to make it 1-0.

It was a quick response from JMU, scoring twice in the top of the third after sophomore Jason Schiavone led off with a walk and was followed by graduate Jack Cone getting hit by a pitch. The Dukes then executed a double steal before redshirt senior Kyle Novak tied the game on a single to score Schiavone. Classmate Trevon Dabney followed Novak with a sacrifice bunt to score Cone and give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

It was all Murphy from that point on, as he never faced more than the minimum until the eighth inning. The lone Spartan to reach base in that span was Cullison, who was then thrown out by Schiavone trying to steal for the second out of the fifth inning. Upstate used a pair of walks in the eighth to push a runner to second for the first time since the second inning, but a pop up ended the inning. Vogatsky then worked around a pair of two-out walks to seal the win.

Game Two
The Dukes struck first to begin game two, as graduate Jaylon Lee led off the second inning with a double and came home to score two batters later on a single from freshman Mike Mancini for a 1-0 lead. Upstate took little time to respond, putting two on with back-to-back singles before Ty Tilson hit a three-run homer to take the lead 3-1. An RBI groundout later in the inning pushed the lead to 4-1 and an RBI single in the next frame extended the lead to four.

JMU began to fight back the next time up, scoring runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings unanswered to take a 6-5 lead into the seventh. The Dukes used RBI singles from redshirt senior Kyle Novak, redshirt junior Jacob Steinberg and sophomore Coleman Calabrese to bring the them within one before sophomore Fenwick Trimble's two-run triple gave the Dukes the lead.

In the eighth inning, Upstate was able to answer the unanswered runs with four of their own to take the lead for good. After loading the bases with a fielder's choice, a hit by pitch and a walk, a single from Troy Hamilton tied the game at six. The Spartans then scored runs in three straight at bats, using a bases loaded walk, a sacrifice fly and finally a single to lead 9-6.

Game Notes

Trevon Dabney was hit by a pitch for the 56^th time in his JMU career, giving him the program record.
No extra base hits were recorded in the first game, as all 10 combined hits were singles.
Coleman Calabrese and Kyle Novak are both on six-game hit streaks. Both have five multi-hit games during their streaks, with Novak's five being consecutive.

Up Next
The Dukes play a pair of road midweek games before opening Sun Belt Conference play next weekend. They will take on VCU on Tuesday, March 14 at 3 p.m. and then play at VMI on Wednesday, March 15 at 5 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.