HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – In the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams, James Madison baseball used a trio of homers to power past Georgia Southern, 14-6, on Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Dukes evened their overall record to 8-8 and moved to 1-0 in Sun Belt play, while the Eagles dropped to 5-11 (0-1 Sun Belt).
Senior Wyatt Campbell led the Dukes at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI. The three hits are a season best and his seventh career game of three hits or more.
Senior Jaden Kinsler improved to 3-0 this season with a season-high 6.0 innings of relief, holding the Eagles to just two runs.
How It Happened
First Inning
The Dukes struck first, bringing home a run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Reece Moody.
Second Inning
JMU quadrupled its lead with three runs in the second, using base hits from Campbell and sophomore Jack Anderson to scores run before a squeeze bunt from junior Kyle Langley made it 4-0.
Third Inning
The Eagles got on the board with a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to score a run.
Fourth Inning
A two-run homer from Nico Senese and a sacrifice fly tied the ball game at four for GS.
Fifth Inning
Senior Jack Guerrero broke the tie with a squeeze bunt to score junior Ike Schmidly, ahead of redshirt sophomore Clay Thompson’s RBI single to give JMU a 6-4 lead.
Sixth Inning
A two-run single from Schmidly was the kick starter for a six-run inning for JMU to push the lead to eight runs. The Dukes then scored in three straight plate appearances, as Thompson drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Pinch hitting, senior Jack Cannizzaro hit a two-run homer for his first career long ball and was followed by a homer from Campbell to make the score 12-4.
Seventh Inning
Sean White hit a solo shot to get another run on the board for GS.
The Dukes responded with their own homer, as Schmidly smashed a 426-foot-long two-run homer to give JMU a 14-5 lead.
Ninth Inning
An infield single brought in a run for the Eagles to make it 14-6.
Game Notes
• Ike Schmidly drove in a career-high four RBI.
• The Dukes homered for an eighth consecutive game.
• JMU has won back-to-back conference openers for the first time since 2021-22.
• The 14 runs are the most runs scored in a regular-season conference game for the Dukes since May 16, 2024 at Troy.
• Ryan Gocio’s nine-game hit streak was snapped, but he improved his reached base streak to 10.
Up Next
The Dukes and Eagles meet for the middle game of the series tomorrow, March 14 with a 4 p.m. first pitch.
— JMU Athletics —
