JMU baseball’s Ty McFarland named CAA Player of the Week

JMU senior third baseman Ty McFarland (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) earned Colonial Athletic Association baseball Player of the Week honors last week after belting three home runs for James Madison.

Leading off a potent top of the order in the JMU lineup, McFarland hit .429 (9-for-21) with three doubles, three home runs, 10 runs scored and seven RBIs. In addition to his 1.000 slugging percentage, he walked four times and was hit by a pitch for a .538 on-base percentage. He also stole a base and fielded 13 chances cleanly at the hot corner. In Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Binghamton, McFarland was 6-for-8 and went deep three times to right field.

With his hot start to the season carrying over from JMU’s fall workouts, McFarland now leads the CAA through two weeks in home runs (4), total bases (28), slugging percentage (.800), hits (13) and runs (12). He is one back in both RBIs (9) and doubles (3) and ranks 10th in both batting average (.371) and on-base percentage (.450).

McFarland highlighted a big offensive week for JMU’s first three batters. Junior center fielder Kevin Husum (Panama City, Fla./Bay) hit .526 with two doubles, a triple, two steals and seven runs scored. Redshirt senior Matt Tenaglia(Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) hit .467 with three doubles, two triples, a home run and seven walks. The trio combined to pile up 16 hits and 13 RBIs in 16 total innings of play in Saturday’s sweep of Binghamton by scores of 9-2 and 11-9.

It was the first career Player of the Week honor for McFarland, who was twice honored as CAA Rookie of the Week in 2011. He and the Dukes are home Tuesday to wrap up a six-game home set against Maryland at 4 p.m.