HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – After play was suspended due to fog density the day before, James Madison baseball returned to the field on Saturday with a nine-run inning to run-rule ETSU, 11-1 in seven innings, before knocking off the Buccaneers, 6-4, in game two of the series at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Dukes have won four of their last five games and improved their record to 7-6, while the Bucs dropped to 9-5.
Between the two games combined, the Dukes homered seven times with juniors Josiah Seguin and Ike Schmidly hitting one in each game. Seguin went 2-for-4 with three RBI in game one, as senior Jack Guerrero also went 2-for-4 with a career-high four RBI. Seguin added two more RBI in game two.
On the mound, senior Jaden Kinsler (2-0) earned the win in the first game behind season highs of 4.0 innings pitched and five strikeouts, and only surrendered a hit and a walk. In game two, freshman Luke Alexander improved to 3-0 in his first career start as he went a season-high 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. Redshirt sophomore Luke McGrath pitched the final 1.1 innings with a career-high three strikeouts to earn his third save of the year.
JMU 11, ETSU 1 | 7 Innings
The series opener began Friday afternoon after an hour-and-a-half weather delay. Neither team could get much going offensively through the first three innings, until ETSU brought a run across on a triple followed by an infield grounder in the fourth inning. The Dukes led the bottom of the inning off with a walk and a double before the game was suspended.
When play resumed on Saturday, Guerrero took a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall to put JMU ahead 3-1. That long ball kicked off a nine-run inning that included back-to-back homers from Seguin and Schmidly. Seguin’s blast was a three-run homer that followed senior Jack Cannizzaro’s RBI single. Sophomore Reece Moody capped the scoring with a triple and trotting home on a wild pitch.
JMU added two more runs in the sixth to take an 11-1 lead on singles from Moody and Guerrero.
JMU 6, ETSU 4
Through four innings, the score was tied at two with all four runs coming from homers. ETSU’s Tristan Curless launched two solo shots, while Moody hit his first career homer to lead off the second and junior Kyle Langley connected in the third.
JMU put together a three-run fifth to open the game up, as Seguin hit a two-run homer before Guerrero singled in Moody to put the Dukes ahead 5-2. ETSU immediately struck back with a run in the sixth.
Schmidly led off the seventh with a homer to extend the JMU lead back to three at 6-3. A homer from Nate Conner in the top of the ninth brought ETSU within two, but that was as close as it would get.
Game Notes
• Jack Guerrero’s four RBI are the most in a game for a Duke since Kyle Langley had four at Longwood last season.
• In game one, Jaden Kinsler strung together a stretch 10 batters in a row retired.
• The Dukes’ run-rule victory is their first since taking down Old Dominion in the Sun Belt tournament in 2024.
• Josiah Seguin has homered in three consecutive games, the first Duke to do so since Mike Mancini homered in three straight from April 27-30, 2024.
• The Dukes have homered in six straight games, the longest streak since homering in 15 consecutive from April 26-May 23, 2024.
• Game two was JMU’s first four-homer game since April 19, 2024 against Georgia Southern.
Up Next
The Dukes wrap up the series with ETSU tomorrow, March 8 with a 1 p.m. scheduled first pitch.
— JMU Athletics —
