HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison baseball dropped the middle game of its series with Fairfield on Saturday afternoon, falling 14-2 at Veterans Memorial Park.
Both teams evened their records, as the Dukes dropped to 5-5 and the Stags improved to 4-4.
Graduate
Corey Dowdell led the way at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a double. Junior
Jaden Kinsler got the start on the mound, going 4.1 innings with seven strikeouts while scattering seven hits and giving up five runs.
How It Happened
First Inning
On a windy afternoon, Luke Nomura put the Stags ahead with a solo shot over the batter's eye for a 1-0 lead.
Third Inning
Fairfield added three runs to make it a 4-0 lead with an RBI single followed by a two-run homer from Nomura.
Fifth Inning
A single, back-to-back bases loaded walks, and a wild pitch added four runs for Fairfield to make the score 8-0.
Sixth Inning
The Stags connected on a three-run homer before a two-run single for five runs and a 13-0 lead.
Eighth Inning
Dowdell got the Dukes on the board with a double to deep center, knocking in sophomore
Ike Schmidly from first to make it 13-1.
Ninth Inning
Fairfield earned a run back with a double off the wall in center field to push its lead to 14-1.
JMU responded with a run scoring on a groundout to make it 14-2, as junior
Jackson Tone got on with a double before coming around to score.
Game Notes
- Jaden Kinsler has thrown back-to-back games of at least seven strikeouts after tossing eight in his previous start. The last Duke to have back-to-back appearances of seven strikeouts or more was Nick Stewart in 2020. He threw eight against NC State on Feb. 14 before tossing seven against Quinnipiac on Feb. 21.
- Reece Moody pushed his reached base streak to eight games, while Ryan Dooley did not reach base safely for the first time this season.
Up Next
The Dukes meet the Stags for the series finale tomorrow, March 2 at noon at Veterans Memorial Park.