Dukes Win Sixth Straight Game to Take Series from Cornell

Saturday, March 2

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

7-3

Cornell

1-4

Cornell

James Madison

Dukes Win Sixth Straight Game to Take Series from Cornell

3/2/2024 5:24:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison baseball extended its win streak to six games as they took the weekend series from Cornell with an 8-5 victory on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.

The Dukes improved to 7-3, their best record through 10 games to begin a season since posting an identical record in 2019. The Big Red fell to 1-4 for their season.

Redshirt senior Mason Dunaway led the Dukes at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBI's. Classmate Matt Kleinfelter earned his first win of the season on the mound while freshman Jackson Logar earned his second save by throwing three scoreless innings.

How It Happened
First Inning
The Dukes threw up a crooked number in the first inning, scoring five runs. Dunaway got the scoring started with a two-run double after the bases were loaded with no outs. A pair of sacrifice flies by graduate Brendan O'Donnell and redshirt senior Jacob Steinberg add two runs before junior Jason Schiavone capped the inning with a run scoring single.

Sixth Inning
Cornell got its first baserunner since the first inning with a leadoff double. It ended a stretch of 13 in a row retired by JMU starter Max Kuhle and it was the first hit for Cornell since the first batter of the game.

The Big Red got on the board for the first time when Max Jensen tripled in the leadoff runner. He was then knocked in on a single to make it 5-2. After a walk to put two runners on, Cornell tied the game at five by hitting a double, a groundout and a single in three consecutive at bats.

JMU quickly responded with two runs of their own to retake the lead. Junior Coleman Calabrese drew a walk ahead of O'Donnell being hit by a pitch, which brought sophomore Wyatt Peifer up who then tripled to give the Dukes a 7-5 lead.

Eighth Inning
O'Donnell tacked on one more run for the Dukes, singling in junior Ryan Dooley to give JMU an 8-5 lead.

Game Notes

Max Kuhle threw a career-high 5.1 innings and tossed a career-high nine strikeouts. It was the most strikeouts thrown by a Duke since CJ Czerwinski threw nine last season against Old Dominion.
The Dukes left 10 runners on base compared to Cornell's five.
JMU drew seven walks and struck out only three times while CU drew one walk and struck out 12 times.
Jason Schiavone has reached base safely in all 10 games this season.
The last six-game winning streak for JMU was last season from Feb. 21-March 4.

Up Next
The Dukes and Big Red meet in the series finale on Sunday, March 3 at Veterans Memorial Park. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the Varsity Network App.