Trailing after three innings, Maryland struck for eight unanswered runs in the middle frames, including five in the fifth, to down JMU 13-6 in a non-conference baseball game on Tuesday afternoon at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
Maryland improved to 5-2 while JMU fell to 4-5.
The Dukes led 4-2 after three innings after the first of two home runs by senior second baseman Conner Brown(Richmond, Va./Godwin). However, Maryland plated two in the fourth, five in the fifth and one more in the sixth to pull ahead 10-4 to take control of the game.
In his return from missing a week due to injury, Brown drove in four runs with a pair of homers and an RBI groundout. All eight hits came from the second through fifth spots in the order for the Dukes. Senior third baseman Ty McFarland(Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby), who earlier in the day was named CAA Player of the Week, doubled twice and scored three runs. Redshirt senior first baseman Matt Tenaglia (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) had a pair of RBI singles and a walk while junior center fielder Kevin Husum (Panama City, Fla./Bay) also had a pair of hits, a walk and a run scored.
Starter Jake Drossner earned the win with four runs allowed on five hits in five innings for Maryland. Redshirt junioirMichael Howerton (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) took the loss after allowing his first earned runs in five appearances this season, getting tagged with four runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Maryland’s 14-hit attack was led by the sixth and seventh spots in the order with shorststop Blake Schmit and designated hitter Mike Rescigno each going 4-for-5. Schmit drove in three runs with three doubles and scored three while Rescigno drove in a pair and doubled twice. Center fielder Charlie White had three hits with two doubles and drove in three.
Maryland took advantage of errors to grab the early lead as a leadoff error extended the inning to allow an RBI double by second baseman Brandon Lowe and an RBI groundout by catcher Kevin Martir. However, the Dukes got the two runs back in the bottom of the frame as Husum singled and McFarland doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Brown grounded out to plate the first run and Tenaglia singled in McFarland to make it 2-2.
Brown added two more RBIs in the third to give JMU the lead as McFarland doubled with two outs and Brown smacked his first round tripper of the season against the wind to left center.
The Terps tied it in the fourth on a two-run double by White and then broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning. Schmit doubled and Rescigno singled to plate the first two runs and make it 6-4. After a pitching change, RBI singles by left fielder Andrew Amaro and White made it 8-4 and Lowe added a sacrifice fly to complete the uprising.
Maryland added a run in the sixth on Schmit’s double off the wall in right, but Brown earned the run back in the bottom of the frame with a high fly to right that carried over the fence for his second homer of the day.
UM added two more in the eighth on RBI singles by Schmit and Rescigno as well as a 13th run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Krysthian Leal. JMU’s sixth run came in the eighth on Tenaglia’s RBI single.
With a six-game home set complete, JMU will travel to the Caravelle Resort Tournament this weekend in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Dukes will face Marshall on Friday at 10:30 a.m., Rhode Island on Saturday at 5 p.m. and West Virginiaon Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
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