Home Radford completes dominant sweep of JMU baseball with 25-9 blistering
Sports

Radford completes dominant sweep of JMU baseball with 25-9 blistering

jmu logoRadford scored 17 runs across the final four innings on Sunday afternoon as it handed the James Madison baseball team a 25-9 loss in non-conference action at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.

The Dukes racked up 12 hits on the day, their highest total of the weekend, but stranded 12 runners as they fell to 16-28 on the year. Radford tallied 19 hits and took advantage of 14 walks to push its record to 33-14 in 2015.

Freshman second baseman Kyle McPherson picked up his third three-hit performance in six games with a 3-for-6 afternoon that included a double and two runs. Junior designated hitter Logan Corrigan went 2-for-4 with a double in his first start of the weekend, while junior third baseman Kyle Weston added a 2-for-5 afternoon.

Freshman center fielder Michael Sciorra kept his hitting streak alive with a 1-for-4 day that saw him drive in a pair of runs. The rookie has now hit safely in eight consecutive contests.

Radford jumped out to an early lead again, plating four runs on four hits before the Dukes came to the plate for the first time. JMU pulled one back, however, in the bottom of the inning. McPherson hammered the sixth pitch of his at-bat off the right-field wall for a one-out double before junior catcher Bobby San Martin drilled a two-out single up the middle to cut the lead to 4-1.

After the Highlanders tacked on four runs in the top of the third, JMU almost dug itself out of the hole with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth.

Senior right fielder Kevin Husum started the rally with his second home run of the season, drilling a 2-1 pitch the opposite way and over the right-field fence to make it 8-2 with one out. McPherson then followed him with a single and junior shortstop Chad Carroll doubled down the left field line to bring him home.

After a groundout, Corrigan yanked the first pitch he saw down the right field line for a double, trading places with Carroll and cutting the lead to 8-4. After Sciorra and Weston both picked up RBI singles to cap the scoring, the Highlanders escaped a bases-loaded jam clinging to their 8-6 lead.

The Dukes added two runs in the sixth and a final tally in the ninth on a double from sophomore pinch hitter Ky Parrott, but Radford had scored four in the top of the sixth, one in the seventh and six in both the eighth and ninth innings to put the game well out of reach.

Junior Mark Gunst took the loss for the Dukes as the first of five JMU pitchers on the evening. Kyle Palmer picked up the win for Radford to move to 1-1 on the season.

The Dukes are back in action next weekend when they wrap up their home season with a three-game, Colonial Athletic Association series against Hofstra. JMU hosts the Pride at 6:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday evening before capping the series with a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday afternoon.

JMU will honor its seniors prior to the Saturday evening game and will recognize Head CoachSpanky McFarland for his 18 years as JMU’s coach before Sunday afternoon’s contest. MadiZone HD SportsNet presented by the JMU Alumni Association will provide live video coverage on both Friday and Saturday, as well as audio coverage on Sunday.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.