App State baseball swept a weekend series in Harrisonburg, Virginia against James Madison University, scoring 43 runs in 3 games.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring right away in the first game. Junior designated hitter Kameron Miller drew a bases loaded walk, and senior second baseman Jake Mummau grounded out, but scored a run.
Mummau and senior center fielder Charlie Evans both hit home runs in the top of the sixth, extending the lead to 5-0. Both players led the team in hits with 3 on the game.
After an RBI single from sophomore right fielder Riley Luft, Miller singled with the bases loaded, and a throwing error scored all 3 runners.
Evans hit his second homer of the game in the ninth inning, and the Mountaineers won 10-0.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Nick DiRito shut down the Dukes hitting, going 8 scoreless innings, striking out 8 and only giving up 2 hits.
App State was able to chase the James Madison starter out of the game without recording an out in the first inning of game two. The Black and Gold scored 5 runs in the top of the first on 2 singles, a walk, a sacrifice fly and a ground out.
The Mountaineers scored 4 more runs in the top of the second, highlighted by a double from sophomore first baseman Ethan Puig. App State led 9-1 after an inning and a half.
James Madison was able to start a rally in the bottom of the second, scoring 5 of their own in the inning, and 2 in the fourth, making it a 9-8 game.
A 2-run double from freshman catcher Colton Denton pushed the advantage to 3, and multiple bases loaded hit by pitches gave App State a 13-8 lead.
Miller blasted a home run in the seventh, and graduate student shortstop Steven Smith smashed one in the eighth, continuing to pile on runs until the end of the game, winning 19-10.
Smith, Puig, Denton and Evans all recorded 3 hits for the Black and Gold, while Smith and Denton each drove in 4 runs.
After a Miller RBI groundout to start the final game of the series, the Dukes scored 2 runs in the bottom of the first, earning their first lead of the series.
The two teams traded runs in the second, but App State broke away from there. Redshirt junior first baseman Jalen Seward drove in 2 with a single to start a streak of 7 unanswered runs. Miller homered and junior left fielder Drew DuPont knocked in 2 with a double making the score 9-3.
James Madison scored in the fourth and the sixth innings to make it 9-6, but Puig responded with another 2 RBI double in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half of the seventh, the Dukes scored 3 more runs to make it 11-9.
Puig capped off his stellar day in the eighth inning with a 2-run single to put the game out of reach, with the Black and Gold winning 14-10.
Smith, Luft, Puig and Seward all had 3 hits for the Mountaineers in the final game of the series, with Puig driving in 4 runs.
