Freshman left-hander Eric Yankey earned his first collegiate win and freshman second baseman Kyle McPherson went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI to lead the James Madison baseball team to a 7-5 win over Canisius on Monday afternoon, as the Dukes completed their four-game sweep at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
JMU scored runs in four of the first five innings, including three in the first, to jump out to a 7-1 lead and held off a feisty Griffins offense to win its fifth straight contest and move to 8-4 on the season. The four-game sweep over the last three days dropped Canisius to 5-9 in 2015.
McPherson accounted for half of the Dukes’ six hits to bring his two-day, three-game line to an impressive 9-for-11, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 4 R, SB, while Yankey made the most of his first career start, throwing five complete innings, allowing six hits and just one run while striking out a pair to earn the win.
The Dukes struck first for the first time since a Feb. 25 loss to Longwood, a period of eight contests, after junior shortstop Chad Carroll led off the inning with a double to left-center. After a walk and a sacrifice bunt, senior right fielder Kevin Husum pushed him across with a hard-hit RBI groundout to short.
When sophomore first baseman Logan Corrigan reached on an error, scoring a second run, McPherson rubbed salt in the wound with a 1-2 double off the right-center wall to plate Corrigan all the way from first and push the JMU lead to 3-0 after one inning.
Sophomore left fielder Josh Wyatt plated a fourth run with a sacrifice fly in the second, while junior catcher Bobby San Martin made it 5-0 in the third on an RBI groundout with runners on second and third.
Canisius pulled one back in the top of the fifth on an RBI single, but JMU made it 7-1 with three straight baserunners to start the bottom half of the inning. After Husum drew a walk and sophomore first baseman Brett Johnson doubled over the center fielder’s head, McPherson knocked another double to right field that scored both runners.
JMU was not out of the water, as Canisius picked up an RBI single in the sixth, a two-run homer in the eighth and a solo shot in the ninth, but the Griffins would get no closer, as left-hander Michael Evans, making his third appearance in two days, was able to keep things at 7-5.
Freshman third baseman Bradley McKay joined McPherson, Carroll and Johnson as the only Dukes to record hits on Monday with his leadoff double in the second, but JMU took advantage of its opportunities. The Dukes stranded just five runners on the day, while Canisius left 14 on base.
In all, five of the Dukes’ six hits were doubles and JMU got a leadoff baserunner in four of the first five frames. Carroll’s leadoff double also marked the 13th consecutive game, dating back to 2014, in which the junior shortstop has reached base.
The Dukes will be back in action on Tuesday, when they welcome Valparaiso to Harrisonburg for a 12 p.m. contest. The game, which will be JMU’s fifth in four days and is part of a nine-game, nine-day stretch for the Dukes, was moved from 2 p.m. to 12 p.m. in an effort to avoid late-afternoon weather.
Share
Chris Graham
