MONTGOMERY, Ala. (JMU Athletics) – James Madison baseball rallied from an early six-run deficit at Riverwalk Stadium to take down No. 21 Louisiana, 10-9, for its largest comeback win since 2016 and to stave off elimination Thursday afternoon at the Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University.

The fourth-seeded Dukes improved to 33-22 and picked up their third win against a ranked team this season, also taking down then-No. 3 Arkansas and then-No. 16 Coastal Carolina. The top-seeded Ragin’ Cajuns dropped to 40-18.

Junior Ryan Dooley was the catalyst at the plate, falling a triple shy of the cycle and going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBI’s while pushing his reached base streak to 37 games. Redshirt senior Hunter Entsminger improved to 4-0 on the mound behind an inning of relief. Senior Joe Vogatsky earned a three-inning save for his ninth of the season, moving into a tie for second in a single season.

How It Happened
First Inning
JMU struck first as Dooley doubled to lead off the game and moved to third on a wild pitch. After a walk put runners on the corners, sophomore Mike Mancini singled in Dooley to extend his hit streak to 14 games and make the score 1-0.

Second Inning
Louisiana batted around in the second, utilizing seven hits to score seven runs and flip the score 7-1 in its favor.

Fourth Inning
With two down, the Dukes took a run back as graduate Brendan O’Donnell went deep for the 16th time this season to make it 7-2. It is the 15th consecutive game a Duke has homered.

Fifth Inning
Junior Jason Schiavone helped JMU chip at the deficit as he doubled in classmate Fenwick Trimble to make it 7-3. The run scored was Trimble’s 65th of the season, the most in a season for a Duke since 2013.

Sixth Inning
O’Donnell led off the inning with a single and moved to second when freshman Kyle Langley drew a walk. Dooley then made it 7-4 on a single through the right side of the infield.

The Cajuns pushed the lead back to four on a solo shot in the home half of the inning to make it 8-4.

Seventh Inning
JMU returned the favor and had its own big inning, scoring six runs to retake the lead. Back-to-back walks to Mancini and Schiavone put two on and a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch allowed Mancini to score. After a third walk, a fielder’s choice from O’Donnell plated a second run and was followed by a fielding error to put two on. Freshman Kyle Langley then doubled in O’Donnell to make it a one-run game, setting up a three-run homer from Dooley for a 10-8 lead.

Vogatsky entered the game in the home half of the seventh, allowing an unearned run to UL to make the score 10-9 before shutting the door the rest of the way.

Game Notes
• The comeback win was the largest since the Dukes came back from seven down to VMI on April 12, 2016.
• Joe Vogatsky is the first JMU pitcher to record nine saves in a season since Kevin Munson recorded the single-season record of 10 in 2010. The flamethrower is up to 14 saves in his career, also moving in a tie for second in the JMU record books.
• In four career games against Louisiana, Ryan Dooley is 9-for-18 (.500), with two doubles, three homers and 13 RBI’s.

Up Next
The Dukes will take on the loser of No. 5 Georgia Southern and No. 8 Old Dominion on Friday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT at Riverwalk Stadium in an elimination game. You can listen to the game on ESPN Harrisonburg (106.9 FM | 1360 AM) and ESPNHarrisonburg.com.

— JMU Athletics —