After Hofstra rallied for six runs in the eighth to take the lead, junior outfielder Ian Haynes (Danville, Va./Tunstall) hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning to give James Madison a 13-12 win in the finale of a Colonial Athletic Association baseball series on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
JMU improved to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the CAA after the Dukes won their 10th straight league series dating back to last season. Hofstra dropped to 1-10 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
It was a back-and-forth affair throughout the game and the Dukes held a 10-6 lead after seven innings. However, Hofstra sent 12 batters to the plate in rallying for six runs in the eighth on five hits off four JMU pitchers.
After falling behind for the first time in the game, the Dukes came back in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman third baseman Conner Brown (Richmond, Va./Godwin) led off with a hit by pitch and sophomore second baseman Bradley Shaban (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) then singled. With one out and on a 1-2 pitch, Haynes smacked his first career home run, a three-run shot to right center for a 13-12 JMU lead.
Junior left-hander Scott Mayer (Waterford, Va./Loudoun County), who got the final out of the eighth with the bases loaded, retired Hofstra in order in the ninth to secure his first collegiate victory. He struck out two in the final 1 1/3 innings.
Shaban matched his career high with four hits for the second straight day, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored and his second home run in as many days. Sophomore left fielder Johnny Bladel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and a pair of RBIs. Senior shortstop David Herbek (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) had a pair of hits with a three-run home run. Junior catcher Jake Lowery (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) and freshman designated hitter Tyler McFarland (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) also had a pair of hits in the game.
Joe Burg took the loss for Hofstra after allowing the final five JMU runs in 1 2/3 innings of work. Shortstop Matt Ford was 3-for-5 with a home run. Left fielder Scott A’Hara had a pair of hits with a three-run home run. Center fielder Danny Poma, designated hitter Dylan Nasiatka, third baseman Joe Perez and catcher Matt Reistetter each had a pair of hits for the Pride.
JMU scored first in the game as with one out in the second, Bladel hit a stand-up triple to the corner in right. McFarland then grounded through a drawn-in infield for a double to score the first run, and Brown singled to right to drive in McFarland for a 2-0 lead.
Hofstra responded in the third as Reistetter led off with a single and score on a two-out high home run that just got over the fence in right field.
The Dukes came back in the bottom of the third with singles by sophomore right fielder Cole McInturff (Centreville, Va./Westfield) and Lowery followed by a three-run shot by Herbek, his sixth of the season and first in 13 games.
Hofstra put two runners on in the fourth with one out. After a pickoff at second, A’Hara moved to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a single up the middle by Perez to make it 5-3. After another single, second baseman Logan Davis doubled down the left-field line to score the fourth Pride run but Reistetter was thrown out at the plate trying to tie the score.
The back-and-forth continued in the bottom of the fourth as Shaban singled and redshirt senior center fielder Alex Foltz (Mathias, W.Va./East Hardy) lifted his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to right.
In the fifth, right fielder Taylor Stuart was hit by a pitch, Ford singled up the middle, and Poma doubled off the wall in right to drive in one run. Another singled by Nasiatka made it 7-6. The Dukes then went to the bullpen and senior left-hander James Weiner (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne’s-Belfield) induced a double-play groundout to escape the jam. Weiner went on to work 2 2/3 innings retiring all seven batters faced.
After each team had scored for three consecutive innings, both went scoreless for one before Shaban hit a solo shot down the line in right field in the sixth. It was his second straight game with a home run after hitting his first career the day before.
The Dukes then added to the lead in the seventh as consecutive singles by Lowery and Herbek were followed by a two-run double to right by Bladel to make it 10-6.
After being held at bay for two innings, Hofstra greeted McFarland, the new JMU pitcher in the eighth, with a hit batter, a single and a three-run blast to right by A’Hara to cut the JMU lead to 10-9. Another single and a walk put two on with two outs and an RBI single to right on an 0-2 count by Ford tied the score at 10-10. Then another single by Poma put Hofstra in front 11-10 and a wild pitch made it 12-10 for the Pride.
That set the stage for Haynes’ late-game heroics to clinch the win and the series for the Dukes.
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