Freshman center fielder Michael Sciorra went a combined 6-for-9 with a double, a triple, two stolen bases and five RBIs in his first collegiate action to lead the James Madison baseball team to a 5-4 win over Buffalo and a 9-6 victory over host Gardner-Webb in the Dukes’ season-openers on Friday.
Freshman second baseman Kyle McPherson had a stellar start to his JMU career as well, going 4-for-8 across the twinbill and scoring four of the 14 runs to help lift the Dukes to the pair of comeback wins to open their season. The Dukes rallied from a 4-1 hole in the first game and a 4-0 deficit against Gardner-Webb to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2011.
“We didn’t play our best baseball tonight,” Head Coach Spanky McFarland said. “But we hung in there and made some big pitches, got some big hits and made some nice plays in big situations.”
JMU struck first in the noon contest against Buffalo, when redshirt junior first baseman Kyle Weston and Sciorra led off the bottom of the second with a walk and a single, respectively. After the pair advanced on a double steal, redshirt sophomore designated hitter Brett Johnson drove Weston in with a groundout up the middle to put JMU up 1-0.
The Bulls struck back at the next opportunity, however, as Buffalo used four hits in the top of the third to storm out to a 4-1 advantage. After Ben Haefner doubled in a run and Vinny Mallaro plated him with a single, junior Mike Abrunzo blasted a home run over the left-center field wall to put the Dukes in a three-run hole.
Neither team managed much more offense until the bottom of the fifth, when the Dukes produced their rally. Senior right fielder Kevin Husum and McPherson walked to start the inning and, after another double steal, Weston walked as well to load the bases for Sciorra.
The freshman center fielder ripped a triple to left field to clear the bases and tie the game at 4-4, just before sophomore pinch hitter Ky Parrott singled him home to give JMU the 5-4 advantage.
After that, the bullpen slammed the door on the Bulls’ offense. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Withers, who entered the game with two outs in the fourth inning, and freshman Eric Yankey combined to hold Buffalo to just two hits across the final 5.1 innings, allowing no runs and striking out six.
In the second game, the Dukes again came back from an early deficit, using a big sixth inning to down the host Bulldogs.
This time, Gardner-Webb struck first, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third on just three hits, none of which went for extra bases, as the Bulldogs took a 4-0 lead aided by a walk, a wild pitch, an error and a fielder’s choice. JMU, however, pulled a run back in the fifth, when sophomore left fielder Josh Wyatt doubled home Sciorra, who’d singled to lead off the inning.
The Dukes exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth to take a 7-4 advantage. Redshirt junior shortstop Chad Carrollopened the damage by doubling home McPherson. Sciorra, redshirt junior Chris Hanson and Wyatt all picked up RBIs in the frame before freshman third baseman Bradley McKay pounded a two-RBI double to right field to cap the scoring and give JMU a 7-4 advantage.
Gardner-Webb picked up unearned runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but a McPherson run on a wild pitch in the seventh and an RBI single from Sciorra in the top of the ninth kept the Bulldogs at bay.
The bullpen came through again for the Dukes, as freshmen Andrew Scarpelli and Steven Schwartz and sophomoreMichael Evans combined to throw 5.1 innings, yielding just two unearned runs and striking out 10, including five by Evans across the final 2.1 innings.
In all, the five JMU relievers on the day combined to throw 10.2 innings of relief, allowing no earned runs and just four hits while striking out 16.
The Dukes will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, when they take on Gardner-Webb for a second time to wrap up the three-game road trip. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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