The App State Mountaineers wasted no time setting the tone in this series, as they cruised to a 10-0 victory over the James Madison Dukes.
App State got on the board early and piled on in the later innings as they finished with 13 hits and three home runs. James Madison couldn’t get anything going from the dugout, as they recorded only two hits with 28 attempts at bat, and were struck out nine times. The Dukes were unable to generate anything offensively throughout the entirety of the game.
App State came out of the gates swinging as a Steven Smith single, Riley Luft reaching and advancing to second on a fielder’s choice, and an Ethan Puig bunt got the bases loaded. Kameron Miller walked, and Smith walked home for the score. Jake Mummau grounded out, but Luft scored off the groundout, giving the Mountaineers a 2-0 lead.
Kyle Langley was the first hitter for James Madison at the bottom of the first, and he hit a single to left center. A double play and groundout would end the inning, and that would be James Madison’s last hit until the seventh inning.
That began a stretch of four innings where neither team could register a run, even though App State loaded bases in the third, but Tommy Walked struck out swinging, keeping James Madison within striking distance.
The game began to break open in the sixth as Mummau began the inning with a solo homer to right field. Several batters later, Charlie Evans hit a double homer to right field to extend the lead to 5-0. That was the first home run for Evans on the season.
The eighth inning was when the dagger was delivered. Walker and Evans began the inning with singles. Luft hit a single of his own that resulted in an RBI as Walker crossed home plate. After Ethan Puig walked to load bases, Miller hit an RBI single to shortstop with Evans scoring, Puig and Luft were also able to score off of an error. That stretched the lead to nine at 9-0.
App State added the cherry on top in the ninth off another homer by Evans, giving them their 10th run of the evening, going on to win 10-0.
The loss continues a bad stretch of games for the Dukes, as they have now dropped five in a row, and the second time in this streak where they have been shut out.
Evans had a standout evening and led the way with three hits, three runs, three RBIs, and two home runs, his first home runs of the season. Mummau chipped in with three hits, two RBIs, and a home run himself. Luft added two hits, two runs, and an RBI, and Miller had two RBIs.
Only two Dukes were able to record hits, with Reece Moody and Langley being the only players. For Moody, he reached base for the 10th straight game, his second-longest reached base streak of the season, as he did that 14 times earlier in the season.
One positive the Dukes can take from this one was the performance of Patrick Bauer, as the senior pitcher struck out seven batters through three innings.
This was App State’s first victory in Harrisonburg ever, as the last time they were there, they were swept.
App State improved to 20-16 on the season and 8-8 against the Sun Belt. That is now six wins out of their last eight for the Mountaineers. James Madison has now dropped their fifth game in a row, tying their longest of the season. They fall to 16-20 and are now 6-10 in conference.
Game two of the series is slated to begin on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.
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