Baseball loses in opener but wins series
Dukes 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in debut, lose 4-0
Posted on February 25, 2008
Last year JMU started out its season by losing 12 of its first 13 games. On Saturday it was unable to reverse the trend of early season jitters, losing 4-0 to Binghamton in the 2008 season opener.
Junior Kurt Houck started for the Dukes, getting tagged with the loss. The 6-foot-6 righty surrendered four runs, only two of them earned, on four hits, three walks and three hit batters in four and two-thirds innings.
All four of Binghamton’s runs were scored in the first inning, during which the Bearcats sent eight men to the plate despite only getting one ball out of the infield.
After Houck hit the first two batters he faced, he surrendered a double down the right field line, an infield single, an error and a walk, all before recording an out. A double play and an infield ground out ended the inning for Houck, but not before the damage was already done.
“The one thing we talked about early on as a pitching staff was not giving up free bases,” Houck said. “Just a couple got away from me. They were able to capitalize on my mistakes, and I wasn’t able to stop the bleeding that inning. That made the score 4-0 and that was the ball game.”
The four-run lead was more than enough for Binghamton starter Zach Groh, who earned the victory for the Bearcats. In five innings, Groh only allowed three hits and three walks, while striking out three Dukes.
“We gave him a lead early. When you give a good pitcher a four-run lead you’re asking for trouble,” JMU coach Spanky McFarland said. “But he did a nice job of keeping us off balance, mixing in the breaking balls. I think their strategy today was to miss with fastballs and throw breaking balls for strikes. They did it, and it worked.”
Last season Groh finished with the 11th best ERA in the nation at 3.28. He also ranked 17th in strikeouts per game at 10.9, on his way to recording a 7-1 record in the regular season.
Senior Gio Yannuzzi recorded the save and threw the final four innings for the Bearcats in a performance as impressive as Groh’s. He allowed three hits and just one walk, while striking out two.
McFarland was impressed by the Binghamton pitching staff’s early season ability to control its off-speed pitches.
“I thought their pitchers did a very nice job of dropping those breaking balls in,” McFarland said. “It’s rare at this time of the year that you’ll have a pitcher who feels his breaking ball, but they had two of them. They both did a nice job.”
After the first inning Houck settled in well, only giving up two hits and two walks in his final three and two-thirds innings on the mound. His control improved drastically and he was able to work his way out of innings with ground-ball outs and an overpowering fastball.
“I just started feeling a little bit better, keeping the ball down, not hitting guys or giving up those free bases,” Houck said. “I walked a couple guys, but we were able to get ground balls, a couple of double plays. My fielders helped me out and we were able to stay in the game there for a little while.”
The offense, however, gave Houck no help and Madison was unable to make the game close.
In six of its innings, JMU had runners in scoring position and was unable to capitalize in any. As a team the Dukes were 0-8 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
“The goal of the offense is to score runs, so that’s very important,” McFarland said. “We just didn’t get good swings with runners in scoring position.”
On Sunday the Dukes and the Bearcats completed their series with a doubleheader. JMU rebounded and took both of the contests, the first 8-7 and the day-cap by a score of 3-1.
