JMU outscores Longwood 18-7 in two games, but takes the split
Posted on April 7, 2008
The JMU baseball team won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 15-3 over Longwood, but Madison’s bats were unable to make it a sweep.
The Lancers won the second game of the non-conference matchup 4-3 after surviving a seventh-inning push by JMU, as the Dukes hit too many balls to the deepest part of Mauck Stadium — center field.
“Usually if you’re trying to hit the ball hard up the middle, it’s gonna go in one gap or the other,” JMU coach Spanky McFarland said. “We just happened to hit it right to the center fielder three or four times.”
In the first game, JMU sophomore Kyle Hoffman pitched into the eighth inning, allowing three runs on nine hits. The win improved his record to 5-1 on the season. Longwood starting pitcher John Walker II gave up six earned runs in 5 and 1/3 innings.
Hoffman’s fastball has more movement later in games, keeping hitters off balance.
“The more my arm gets tired the more it moves and the more ground balls I get,” Hoffman said.
Offensively, the Dukes (21-8) struggled in the early innings. A 3-3 tie was broken up in the fifth by a sacrifice fly from freshman third basemen McKinnon Langston, scoring senior outfielder Joe Lake from third.
After adding another run in the fifth, JMU exploded in the sixth and seventh innings, scoring nine runs. Junior outfielder Brett Sellers and sophomore first baseman Steven Caseres each had 3 RBI, as Caseres knocked in three with his tenth home run in the seventh inning.
“They kind of feed off each other,” McFarland said. “With both of those guys if you make a mistake it’s out of the park.”
The tandem nearly combined to lead a JMU comeback in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, but with Sellers on second base and freshman Trevor Knight on third, Caseres flied out to center field in the bottom of the seventh and the Lancers (18-12) clinched a split. The teams played only seven innings because it was the second half of the doubleheader.
Sellers and Knight, who played as the designated hitter, finished 2-for-4 in the loss.
Senior pitcher Trevor Kaylid had four strikeouts and just one walk in 5 and 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs, but three came on a home run by Longwood first baseman Casey Havers in the fourth inning.
“He did what he’s supposed to do,” Kaylid said. “We played good defense [but] I left a few over the plate and that was the difference.”
Longwood pitcher Garrett Lythgoe allowed three runs in 4 and 1/3 innings, with one walk and one strikeout. He gave up those runs in the third inning, with JMU sophomore outfielder Matt Browning scoring the game’s first run on a triple by sophomore Mike Fabiaschi.
After the shortstop’s triple, sophomore outfielder Alex Foltz lined out and Fabiaschi scored. A pair of singles by Knight and Sellers led to a Caseres RBI, as he connected for a single that bounced off first base and into right field.
But Longwood responded in the top of the fourth, as Havers hit a three-run home run. Kaylid gave up another longball in the fifth as Longwood catcher Topher Ellis connected for his only hit of the doubleheader, giving the Lancers a 4-3 lead.
JMU was scheduled to play another doubleheader at Longwood on Sunday, but it was postponed because of rain. The games were rescheduled for Monday at 4 p.m. in Farmville, Va. JMU plays another non-conference game Tuesday at Liberty.
