Dukes Split Doubleheader to Conclude Regular Season; Earn First Round Bye

Saturday, May 18

Troy, Ala.

3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT)

James Madison University

32-20, 17-12

Troy

35-20, 17-12

James Madison

Troy

Dukes Split Doubleheader to Conclude Regular Season; Earn First Round Bye

5/18/2024 11:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

TROY, Ala. – James Madison baseball clinched the fourth seed and a first round by in the Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University as it split a doubleheader, 9-4 and 11-3, with Troy on Saturday at Riddle-Pace Field.

The Dukes close out the regular season at 32-21 (17-12 Sun Belt), the most wins in a season since 2011. The Trojans moved to 36-20 (18-12 Sun Belt).

At the plate, redshirt senior Mason Dunaway and junior Ryan Dooley each had a three-hit game to lead the way in game one while junior Fenwick Trimble and sophomore Mike Mancini combined for four of the five hits in game two. Redshirt sophomore T.R. Williams earned the win in game one as he started and went two innings.

JMU 9, Troy 4
The Dukes got out front in the first on junior Jason Schiavone's 17^th homer of the season, giving them a 2-0 lead. Troy took a run back in the second to make it a one-run game, but JMU then went on to score four unanswered runs to build a 6-1 lead. A pair of runs knocked in by junior Coleman Calabrese and Dunaway in the third began the run, before sophomore Wyatt Peifer scored in the fifth and Schiavone drew a bases loaded walk in the sixth.

Troy made it a 6-3 score with an RBI double and a groundout to score two runs in the home half of the sixth. JMU added two runs in the seventh to make it 8-3 ahead of a Mancini single in the ninth that knocked in a run for a 9-3 lead. The Trojans managed to get a run back in the bottom of the ninth on their own RBI single for a 9-4 score.

Troy 11, JMU 3
JMU got its first hit of game two to lead off the fourth, as Dooley extended his reached base streak to 35 games with a single. Trimble followed with a double before Mancini hit his 11^th long ball of the season to make it 3-0 and allow the Dukes to score the first run for the third time in the series.

A leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth got Troy on the board and then used a two-run homer and a wild pitch to plate three more runs in the fifth and take a 4-3 lead. A five-run seventh inning opened the game for the hosts as they took a 9-3 lead and then followed it up with two more runs in the eighth to make it 11-3.

Game Notes

Multiple Dukes entered JMU single-season top 10's, as Jason Schiavone's 17^th homer moves him into a tie for eighth place. Fenwick Trimble is up to 63 runs scored to move into a tie for 10^th. Mike Mancini moved into a tie for 10^th in stolen bases with his 26^th.
Trimble hit his 50^th career double in game two.
The Dukes are up to 81 home runs this season, the third most in a single season in program history and the most since 2006.

Up Next
The Dukes will head to Montgomery, Ala. and take on fifth-seeded Georgia Southern on Wednesday, May 22 for an 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT start at Riverwalk Stadium. Tickets for the tournament can be bought here.