This goes to 11: JMU baseball loses again

William and Mary grabbed a 5-1 lead after one inning and finished a three-game sweep over James Madison with an 8-4 decision in a Colonial Athletic Association baseball game Sunday afternoon at Plumeri Park.

W&M improved to 25-13 overall and 9-3 in the CAA.  JMU fell to 14-20 overall with its 11^th loss in a row and was swept in its third straight league series to drop to 6-11 in conference play.

Starter Jason Inghram improved to 5-3 after working around nine hits allowed in five innings.  He allowed four runs, only one earned, and struck out three.  Matt Wainman worked the final two innings allowing one hit to save all three games of the series.

Redshirt sophomore Michael Howerton (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) recovered from a shaky first inning to work 7 2/3 innings with eight runs, seven earned, allowed on nine hits.  He walked six and struck out four.

Center fielder Ryan Brown was 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI for W&M.  Shortstop Ryan Williams was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

JMU led W&M in hits 11-9 to finish the series outhitting the Tribe 36-25 with an advantage in all three games.  Junior second baseman Conner Brown (Richmond, Va./Godwin) was 2-for-5 with a three-run home run in the fifth that cut the deficit to 6-4.  Senior shortstop Casey Goss (Springfield, Va./Glenville) and sophomore left fielder Chad Carroll (Oakton, Va./Oakton) each had two-hit games.

The Tribe got to Howerton early with a hit batter, single and walk loading the bases before another walk made it 1-0.  Left fielder Jonathan Sarty and Williams each delivered two-run hits to make it 5-1.

W&M added a run in the second on an RBI groundout after an error had put runners on the corners with one out.

Brown’s home run to left in the fifth cut the margin to 6-4.  However, the Tribe staged a two-out rally in the eighth, getting RBI singles by right fielder Derek Lowe and Brown to make it 8-4.  After stranding two runners in the eighth, Wainman worked a quiet ninth to complete the save.

JMU will have two midweek games for the first time this season, traveling to Radford on Tuesday and Longwood on Wednesday.