Sophomore left fielder Josh Wyatt went 2-for-3 for the James Madison baseball team on Saturday, but the Dukes fell to Radford, 11-3, in non-conference action at RU Baseball Stadium.
JMU tallied six hits to go with five walks on the day, but left 10 runners on base and fell to 16-27 in 2015 with the loss. The Highlanders made the best of their 11 hits, stranding just five baserunners as they moved to 32-14 on the season and captured the series.
Wyatt was the only Duke with multiple hits in the contest, as senior right fielder Kevin Husum and junior shortstop Chad Carroll both drove in runs in 1-for-3 days. Freshman center fielder Michael Sciorra also went 1-for-3 to stretch his hitting streak to a career-best seven games.
Radford jumped on the Dukes early for the second game in a row, scoring three runs in the first inning and adding four in the second to put JMU in a 7-0 hole. The Highlanders would tack on two more in the sixth inning before the Dukes responded.
Weston started the brief rally when he was hit by a 1-0 pitch with one out in the seventh. Wyatt and Sciorra followed him with back-to-back singles to load the bases before Husum drove a pitch to deep center field. The sacrifice fly brought Weston home to make it 9-1. Sciorra would steal second, but a hard-hit ball to center field would find a Radford glove to end the rally.
After the Highlanders added a run in both the seventh and eighth innings, JMU pushed two more runs home in their final at-bat. The Dukes drew three walks to load the bases with two outs before sophomore designated hitter Ky Parrott reached on an error by the second baseman, allowing junior pinch-hitter Tyler Carroll to race home.
Chad Carroll would follow that with a five-pitch walk that brought home another run and made it 11-3, but the Dukes would get no closer as a fielder’s choice to shortstop closed things out.
Junior left-hander Aaron Hoover took the loss for JMU, recovering from the first two innings to finish his five-inning start with three straight 1-2-3 frames. Senior right-hander Derek Shifflett threw the final three innings for the Dukes.
Radford starter Dylan Nelson picked up the win on the evening, after yielding just six hits across seven complete innings and striking out four.
The two teams will wrap up their three-game set on Sunday afternoon, with the series returning to Harrisonburg for a 2 p.m. bout at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park. Live audio will be available on Madizone HD SportsNet presented by the JMU Alumni Association.
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Chris Graham
