HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison baseball picked up a pair of wins on Sunday, winning 4-2 after resuming play of its suspended game and then using the bats to earn a 16-4 win in the finale to sweep Fairfield at Veterans Memorial Park.
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The Dukes have now won their last four games and sit at 5-3. The Stags fell to 0-6.
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Three Dukes collected three hits in the finale, including graduate
Brendan O'Donnell who went a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs and a career-high six RBI's. Junior
Coleman Calabrese also homered for the third consecutive games. In total, the Dukes homered five times in the finale for the most in a game since 2017.
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Sophomore
Jaden Kinsler earned his second win of the season in the suspended game with freshman
Jackson Logar working two scoreless innings for the save. Senior
Ryan Murphy picked up win number one in the finale.
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How It Happened
JMU 4, Fairfield 2
Due to inclement weather, the Dukes and Stags suspended their game on Saturday after two innings with the Dukes leading 3-0 from an RBI single off the bat of junior
Ryan Dooley and a two-run shot from Calabrese.
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When play resumed on Sunday, Kinsler toed the rubber and went five innings, striking out six and allowing a pair of runs.
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Fairfield got on the board with a two-run triple in the top of the fourth to get within one of JMU, but a sacrifice fly from redshirt senior
Jacob Steinberg pushed the lead to 4-2 and the Dukes were never threatened again.
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JMU 16, Fairfield 4
The Dukes scored early and often in the series finale, as they pushed a run across in every inning during the seven inning contest.
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Sophomore
Mike Mancini and junior
Fenwick Trimble went back-to-back to begin the first inning for JMU and it pushed another run across later in the inning for a 3-0 lead. An RBI single from Trimble in the second inning pushed the lead to 4-0 before Fairfield used an infield single to get on the board.
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O'Donnell hit his first home run of the game to lead off the bottom of the third and push the lead back to four at 5-1. He then stepped up in the fourth and hit his fourth homer of the season, this time a three-run shot to give JMU an 8-1 lead.
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FU cut the lead in half with a three-run homer in the fifth to make the score 8-4, but the Dukes answered with a five-run innings. A two-run single from sophomore
Wyatt Peifer was followed by freshman
Nic Poole's first career hit, a double to make the lead 11-1. O'Donnell brought in the final two runs with a double for a new career-high in RBI's with six but was thrown out at third to end the inning.
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In the sixth inning, Calabrese's fourth homer of the season and a two-run single from sophomore
Jack Guerrero made the score 16-4 for the Dukes.
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Game Notes
- JMU's last five home run game was on March 17, 2017 when they hit five against NJIT.
- Mike Mancini tied career-highs of three hits and two stolen bases while setting a career high of four runs scored.
- The Dukes homered nine times in the series, the most since hitting nine against Louisiana last season.
- In the series finale, the Dukes hit .429 (6-for-14) with runners in scoring position, .450 (9-for-20) with runners on, .500 with two outs (4-for-8) and .559 overall (19-for-34).
- The last Duke to hit a home run in three consecutive games was Fenwick Trimble from Feb. 26-March 4 last season.
- Brendan O'Donnell is the first Duke to record at least six RBI's since Ryan Dooley knocked in seven against Louisiana last season on April 22.
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Up Next
The Dukes are hitting the road for their lone away game in this current stretch of eight home games in nine games. They'll head to Fairfax to take on George Mason on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. with the game being streamed on ESPN+.
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