RALEIGH, N.C., June 1, 2008 – Junior shortstop Reese Havens smacked a two-run walkoff home run to lift South Carolina over James Madison 7-5 in an elimination game in the Raleigh Regional of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Championship at Doak Field at Dail Park.

“It was a good college baseball game,”  noted JMU head coach Spanky McFarland.  “Alex [Valadja] had a nice start.  This team never gives up.  We’ll battle, we’re not afraid of anybody.  We just came up a little short today.”

USC improved to 40-22 and advances to Sunday night’s championship game against N.C. State at 6 p.m.  JMU ended its season at 39-19, the seventh-highest win total in program history.

South Carolina led 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth.  Sophomore Matt Browning (Mystic, Conn./Fitch) hit a one-out single and freshman McKinnon Langston (Tallahassee, Fla./North Florida Christian) added a two-out single.  The Dukes were down to their last strike when redshirt sophomore Chris Johnson (Shrewsbury, N.J./Red Bank Regional) laced a double to the gap on a one ball, two strike count to score both runs as Langston narrowly beat the throw to the plate.

In the bottom of the ninth, freshman Scott Wingo singled to lead off the inning.  Havens then socked a full-count offering well over the wall in right field for the game winner.

The loss came despite the best performance of the season by JMU freshman starter Alex Valadja (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic).  After missing much of the season due to illness, Valadja has seen sporadic work over the final few weeks.  However, he stepped up on Sunday to work a career-high 5 1/3 innings while allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with four strikeouts.  Valadja retired nine in a row at one point.

Commented Valadja, “It’s taken time to get my body back to where it needed to be.  I felt great today.  I threw the ball where I wanted.  I stayed focused and let it fly.  There were a couple of pitches that I’d like to have back.  My only thought was to stay calm and give us a chance to win.  I wanted to keep it close and keep the team in the game.”

Sophomore Kyle Hoffman (Reading, Pa./Twin Valley) worked the final 2 2/3 innings and took the loss to finish the year at 6-5.  He had allowed just one run on two hits prior to the two in the ninth.

Junior Mike Cisco earned the win after blowing the save to improve to 6-3.  Sophomore Blake Cooper received the no decision after tossing 8 1/3 innings and limiting JMU to four runs, one earned, on seven hits with a career-high nine strikeouts.

Browning was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.  Langston was also 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run.  The pair led the Dukes with five and six hits respectively in the Regional.

Junior slugger Justin Smoak, likely a top 10 draft pick in next week’s Major League Baseball draft, launched a pair of home runs to left field off Valadja, driving in three runs in the game.  The home runs for Havens was his only hit while also walking twice and scoring twice.  Wingo was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs.

South Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.  Havens reached on a leadoff walk after his popped foul was dropped for an error.  Smoak homered to left field two batters later.

The Gamecocks added a run in the second when Wingo's fly to center field scored junior right fielder Andrew Crisp, who reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on sophomore catcher Kyle Enders' single.

Smoak homered to left again in the third to raise South Carolina's lead to 4-0.

JMU pulled to within 4-3 in the top of the fourth with three runs after two were out.  Senior second baseman Joe Lake (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) was safe on an error to start the inning.  Cooper fanned the next two batters before JMU got three straight RBI hits.  Browning produced the first run with a single to left after Lake had stolen second, and junior first baseman Lee Bujakowski (Hopewell, Va./Hopewell) followed with a double off the wall in left and Langston added a run-scoring single to center field.

Looking back on the weekend, Langston said, “It’s a learning experience.  We came in here as a four seed, and people probably thought we weren’t going to do anything.  I think we made a little noise.  WE had a great team and played well together.  There’s a lot of heart in this team.”

JMU will have the bulk of its roster back in 2009 looking to defend its first CAA Championship.  The Dukes will lose possibly as few as two players from the roster, pending the results of next week’s MLB First Year Player Draft.  Freshmen and sophomores compiled 60% of the 25-man roster in 2008 for JMU.

NOTES: Redshirt junior Brett Sellers (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had one hit to finish the season with a .410 batting average, good for the 10^th-best season mark in JMU history... he also raised his second-best total-bases mark to 166 and broke a three-way tie for fourth in season hits (91)... JMU’s final season fielding percentage of .970 established a new school record... the previous mark of .968 was set in 2002 and matched in 2006... the Dukes thought they were playing without redshirt sophomore Steven Caseres (New City, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional) due to health concerns... however the usual starter at first base and cleanup hitter showed up at the ballpark in the seventh and pinch hit in the ninth... USC now leads the head-to-head series 9-1... the last meeting between the teams was also a Gamecock walkoff win in 2003 to open the campaign.