James Madison baseball will close its 10-game home stretch by hosting Virginia and Mount St. Mary's in a pair of midweek games. The Dukes host Virginia at 4 p.m. Tuesday followed by a 4 p.m. contest on Wednesday against The Mount. Tuesday's game will feature live video coverage on MadiZONE.
The Dukes are coming off of a three-game home sweep of the Lafayette Leopards over the weekend and improved their record to 5-5-1 for the season. Redshirt senior left-hander Sean Tierney led the Dukes by throwing a three-hit, complete-game shutout in the opener. That was followed by a pair of instant victories for Madison as freshman Chad Carroll singled home Conner Brown in the ninth as the Dukes rallied from a 9-8 deficit entering the inning. On Sunday, it was Brown again scoring the game-winning run, this time on Bradley Shaban's two-run blast to make it 7-5. It was the first walk-off home run since Brett Garner in 2010 against Delaware.
Brown and Carroll had the hot bats in the series, each going 6-for-11. Brown doubled twice with a home run, six runs scored, five RBIs and a .615 on-base percentage. Shaban hit .417 in the series as the Dukes hit four of their five home runs for the season in the three-game set.
Both Virginia and Mount St. Mary's were active this weekend on the diamond. Virginia fell to 6-4-1 after dropping two of three home games over the weekend. The Cavaliers opened with a victory over Seton Hall 10-4 in their early game Saturday and then lost to Wright State in their night cap 5-4. The Cavaliers then played Seton Hall for the second time in the weekend series, losing to the Pirates 5-2 in Sunday's afternoon game.
Mount St. Mary's is 1-8 heading into the week with its home opener on Tuesday against George Mason prior to traveling to Harrisonburg on Wednesday. The Mount spent eight days in Winter Haven, Fla. to open the season, dropping four games to St. Louis, dropping three of four to St. Bonaventure and most recently falling to Bowling Green 12-4 on Saturday to end the trip.
Series History
Virginia leads the series over James Madison 35-24-1. The Dukes have already faced the Cavs once this season in the Caravelle Resort Tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Due to rain the game was called before the ninth inning, leaving the two teams to claim a tie at 4-4. JMU led 2-1 but had no hits until the eighth inning, when, trailing 4-2, the Dukes strung together three hits in a row to tie the score before ultimately having the potential winning run thrown out on a close play at the plate.
JMU is 4-0 all-time against Mount St. Mary's with three wins in the early 1990s and, most recently, a 21-12 win in Emmitsburg on April 7, 2009. JMU blasted 11 home runs, including one from current senior Evan Scott, in a game that featured strong winds to right field and some snow in early April.
Starting Pitchers
Tuesday, JMU vs. Virginia
JMU - Aaron Hoover, Fr., LHP (0-1, 10.61 ERA)
Hoover will make his second career start in Tuesday's game. He pitched seven innings in relief in the second game of the season against Boston College. That was followed by allowing eight runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings of a 22-6 loss to Bucknell last weekend.
Virginia - Artie Lewicki, So., RHP (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Lewicki ranks last on the Cavalier staff with a 6.00 ERA through 11 games, though opponents are hitting just .263 against home. Most recently, he allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits in three innings of a start last Tuesday in an 8-0 loss to Liberty. He was also the pitcher in the eighth inning when JMU made its rally with two runs on three hits to tie Virginia in the first meeting.
Wednesday, JMU vs. Mount St. Mary's
Neither team has announced a starter for Wednesday's game.
