Dukes Advance to Sun Belt Semifinals in Run-Rule Win - James Madison University Athletics (2024)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – James Madison baseball scored early and often against Old Dominion on Thursday night at Riverwalk Stadium to advance to the semifinals of the Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University with a 15-5 run-rule victory.

The win marked career win No. 500 for JMU head coach Marlin Ikenberry.

The fourth-seeded Dukes improved to 34-22 and with tonight's win, JMU wraps up the second annual TowneBank Royal Rivalry Challenge with a 14.5 to 7.5 win over ODU. The eighth-seeded Monarchs dropped to 31-26.

Graduate Brendan O'Donnell and junior Fenwick Trimble both went 4-for-5 at the plate, each tying their career-highs for hits in a game. O'Donnell added two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI's, while Trimble had three runs scored and four RBI's. Graduate Donovan Burke improved to 6-2 with five innings of relief where he struck out nine.

How It Happened
First Inning
Junior Ryan Dooley led off with a walk to extend his reached base streak to 38 games before coming around to score on a single from classmate Jason Schiavone for the first run of the game. Singles from sophom*ore Wyatt Peifer and O'Donnell each plated a run for a 3-0 lead.

A single through the left side of the infield for ODU took a run back at 3-1.

Second Inning
Back-to-back singles from Trimble and sophom*ore Mike Mancini plated a run, as Trimble moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored on Mancini's hit. Mancini then stole second and scored on two wild pitches for a 5-1 lead.

Another ODU single tallied a run for a 5-2 score.

Fourth Inning
Dooley doubled in the fourth and came around to score the next at bat on a single from Trimble to give JMU a 6-2 lead.

Fifth Inning
The Dukes broke the game open with a four-run fifth to make to score 10-2. Freshman Kyle Langley singled in a run, with a throwing error allowing a second run to score. Trimble singled in a run before two batters late a fourth run would come home on a Schiavone groundout.

ODU scored their third run on another RBI single to make it 10-3.

Sixth Inning
Trimble's fourth hit of the night knocked in two runs to increase the JMU lead to 12-3.

Seventh Inning
O'Donnell plated a run on his second double of the game to give JMU a 13-3 lead. With the double, O'Donnell increased his season total of two-baggers to 20. He becomes the 13^th Duke to post a 20-double season.

Two-runs were knocked in on an ODU double in the home half of the seventh to make it 13-5.

Eighth Inning
JMU scored two runs in the eighth to seal the run-rule win, using a sacrifice fly from Mancini and a single from sophom*ore Jack Cannizzaro to make it 15-5.

Game Notes

• JMU stole nine bases against ODU, the most in a single game since the Dukes stole 10 against Towson on May 19, 2018.
• Mike Mancini stole two bases to now have 29 on the season, moving into a tie for fifth most in a single-season.
• The Dukes have now stolen 100 bases this season, the first time a Duke has hit 100 stolen bases in a season since 2011.
• No home runs were hit by the Dukes, snapping a 15-game streak of games featuring at least one homer.
• Mancini increased his hit streak to 15 games, the first 15-game hit streak for a Duke since Chase DeLauter strung together a streak of 17 games from April 16, 2021 to Feb. 18, 2022.
• The 15 runs are the most in a conference tournament for the Dukes since scoring 19 against William & Mary in 2013.
• The last time the Dukes won a postseason game by 10 runs or more was an 11-1 win over George Mason on May 17, 2001.
• The 68 runs scored this season for Fenwick Trimble are tied for fifth most in a season at JMU and are the most for a Duke since 2011.
• JMU is up to 217 extra base hits this season, tied for the sixth most in a season in program history.

Up Next
The Dukes will take on fifth-seeded Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at Riverwalk Stadium at 1:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. CT. With a JMU win, the teams will play for a championship game appearance either 45 minutes after the completion of the first game or at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT should sixth-seeded App State defeat second-seeded Southern Miss in the first game of the day.