HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – The offense of James Madison baseball tallied its third most runs scored this season, taking down Georgia Southern 15-6 in the series opener at Veterans Memorial Park on Friday night.

The Dukes improved to 22-15 overall and evened their Sun Belt Conference record to 8-8. The Eagles fell to 19-18 (9-7 Sun Belt).

Two juniors led the way at the plate with three-hit games, as Fenwick Trimble went 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI’s while Coleman Calabrese also went 3-for-5 with three RBI’s but had one run scored and two triples. Calabrese tied a single-game program record with his two triples.

On the mound, sophomore Max Kuhle evened his record for the season at 3-3, earning the win behind 4.2 scoreless innings of relief and four strikeouts. After giving up a double to the first batter he faced, Kuhle retired the final 13 batters he faced.

How It Happened
First Inning
GS struck first on a two-run double in the first inning after loading the bases.

Second Inning
JMU knotted the game three batters into the second after sophomore Wyatt Peifer led off the inning with a homer and was followed by a solo shot from graduate Brendan O’Donnell two batters later. The Dukes took the lead at 3-2 after freshman Kyle Langley singled, advanced to third after two balks and scored on an error. Trimble smashed his sixth long ball of the season to make it a 5-2 ballgame.

Third Inning
Junior Jason Schiavone tied O’Donnell for the team lead in home runs as he led off the third with his 11th of the season to make it 6-2 Dukes.

Fourth Inning
The Eagles knotted the game at six with four runs in the fourth, scoring on a sacrifice fly, a two-run homer and a double.

Sixth Inning
Junior Ryan Dooley gave JMU the lead for good, scoring both O’Donnell and Langley on a single to give the Dukes an 8-6 lead. The two runners led off the inning with a double and a walk, respectively, and moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt.

Eighth Inning
A seven-run inning for the Dukes broke the game open, as they sent 10 batters to the plate. A pair of runs were scored on fielder’s choices with errors, while the Dukes also scored on a Trimble single and an O’Donnell sacrifice fly. The sacrifice fly scored in Calabrese to make it 15-6, who ended up on third base after hitting a bases loaded triple.

Game Notes
• The two games in which the Dukes scored more than 15 runs are March 9 at ETSU (22 runs) and Feb. 25 vs. Fairfield (16 runs).
• Freshman Kyle Langley tied his season high in hits with two and set his season high in runs scored with three.
• All nine starters scored a run and recorded a hit. There were five multi-run games and six multi-hit games.
• The Dukes hit four home runs, increasing their season total to 53. Three of the four homers were solo shots, now tallying 37 this season.
• It is the ninth win for the Dukes this season when trailing at any point in the game.

Up Next
The Dukes and Eagles meet in the middle game of the series on Saturday, April 20 at 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park.

— JMU Athletics —