NEWS RELEASE
April 3rd, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Eric Shellhouse, Director of Communications
shellheg@dukes.jmu.edu
Atlanta, GA: The Dukes dropped their series finale to the Georgia State Panthers on Sunday, 8-7. The team’s combined for 15 runs in an offensive showcase that featured three home runs and seven runs in the first one and a half innings. Every member of JMU’s starting line up reached base at least once, and eight of the nine recorded at least one base hit.
Wyatt Peifer continued his strong offensive production, going 2-4 with a double, a run scored and a run batted in. The pair of knocks extended his hitting streak to ten games. Mike Mancini also recorded a multi-hit game and scored a run. Brendan O’Donnell connected on his ninth home run of the season in the second inning while also drawing a walk in the contest. Overall the offense produced ten hits across nine innings, but fell short in the later innings.
Georgia State rallied in the sixth for two runs from a Will Mize homer than brought the team to within a run. After a lead off walk to Brennan Hudson to start the seventh, Dylan Strickland launched a two run home run to put the Panthers in front for good. The victory secured a series victory for Georgia State in the rubber match between the two.
Donovan Burke started his day on the mound going four and two thirds innings with four strike outs and four runs allowed. Joe Vogatsky entered in relief and finished with three and a third innings and a season high five strikeouts.
The loss dropped JMU’s record to 16-12 and 3-6 in Sun Belt conference play. Their mid week match up against Radford has been postponed due to inclement weather, and they will resume play on Friday at home against Appalachian State.
Georgia State improved their record to 15-12 overall and 7-2 in the Sun Belt. They’ll look ahead to a Tuesday night match up against #24 ranked Georgia before resuming Sun Belt play next weekend against Georgia Southern.
About the JMU Dukes Baseball team:
The James Madison University Men’s baseball team is one of the 18 Division 1 sports teams that JMU has in the city of Harrisonburg. This is their second season in the Sun Belt Conference. Their home games are played at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park, which seats 1,200 fans and is located next to the JMU Softball field. JMU’s baseball program was established in 1970 and played at Long Field at Mauck Stadium before relocating across campus to Veterans Field at Memorial Park in 2010. They have one College World Series appearance with their NCAA Regional Champion birth in 1983.