Arkansas State takes series over James Madison
The Arkansas State Red Wolves defeated the James Madison Dukes 2-1 on Sunday afternoon to take the series two games to one after three very competitive games.
Game One
The first game of the series took place on Friday night, and it saw Arkansas State come from behind to defeat James Madison 11-9.
The Dukes came out swinging early with two runs in the opening inning when Josiah Seguin hit a double to right center, resulting in an RBI as Kyle Langley scored from first base. Seguin scored again later in the inning after a passed ball. James Madison scored twice again in the top of the second inning to take a 4-0 lead.
The Red Wolves got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when Derek Martinez hit a home run to right field for a two-run homer. James Madison responded in the top of the third with two more runs when Clay Thompson hit a home run himself for a two-run homer.
James Madison extended that lead in the fifth inning when a fielding error by Arkansas State saw Ike Schmidly score, and another error resulted in a steal of home.
The fifth inning saw the Dukes take an 8-2 lead.
The bottom of the fifth was when the tables began to turn, as a three-run homer saw them claw their way back into the game. James Madison scored again at the top of the sixth off another passed ball.
Arkansas State hit another home run in the bottom of the seventh when Aidan Houseworth hit a two-run homer. That was his fourth home run of the season. Two more home runs were hit in the bottom of the eighth, with the final homer coming from Martinez, who scored his second of the game, which put the Red Wolves in front 11-9.
James Madison still had a little bit of breath left in the ninth, but the game concluded with Reece Moody grounding out for James Madison.
All 11 of Arkansas State’s runs came from home runs.
Game Two
Game two of this series saw James Madison take the win, as Jack Guerrero hit a double to the right center to end the game and give James Madison the 11-10 victory. This game was similar to the first game as one team had to make a comeback from an early deficit, but this time it was the Dukes making that comeback.
The bottom of the first inning saw Arkansas State pick up where they left off in the previous game with a home run, as Martinez hit a grand slam, and Arkansas State ended the inning with a 4-0 lead. James Madison immediately responded in the second inning as Jack Cannizzaro hit a sacrifice bunt, and Seguin hit a home run of his own for the three-run homer, tying the game up.
Arkansas State added four more runs in the third and fourth innings, with AJ Mustow hitting a two-run homer in the third, and a groundout and single in the fourth saw the lead go back to four at 8-4.
Each team recorded a run of its own in the fifth inning, with Schmidly hitting a home run and Martinez recording an RBI single. In the sixth inning, Cannizzaro grounded out to third base but recorded an RBI as Thompson scored and Houseworth was hit by a pitch. Arkansas State increased the lead to 10-6.
Wyatt Campbell hit a two-run homer in the eighth and Thompson hit a two-run homer in the ninth to tie it up for James Madison to set up the double by Guerrero in the 11th inning.
Game Three
The third and final game of this series was very different from the first two games. The first two games of the series saw a lot of home runs and points scored, as there was a total of 41 runs scored through those two games. The third game saw a total of three runs scored, which saw Arkansas State take the rubber match and win the series 2-1.
Arkansas State started pitcher Dylan Farley for the fifth time this season, and improved its record to 4-1 when he starts. He started the first five innings and recorded four strikeouts. Jelle van der Lelie came in for the final four innings and recorded six strikeouts, only one hit, and didn’t allow a single walk.
Arkansas State recorded the first run of the game in the third inning with a home run by Kaden Amundson. They scored another run in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly by Evan Griffis.
Thompson scored for James Madison in the sixth inning off a fielding error by Arkansas State. This was James Madison’s first run of the game and the final run of the game for both teams.
The game ended on a strikeout by Ben Barrow for James Madison.
In the game, James Madison only recorded four hits, and Arkansas State recorded five.
Arkansas State improved to 18-9 (5-4) on the season, as James Madison dropped to 12-14 (4-5).
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