William & Mary 24 JMU 6
William & Mary baseball defeats Dukes 24-6
Megan Trindell | The Breeze
JMU baseball v. William & Mary
Sophomore catcher Bobby San Martin heads back to the dugout during Sunday’s game. San Martin homered in the loss.
Pitching has killed JMU this season. A team ERA of 7.43 heading into Sunday only escalated thanks to a 24-6 loss to the College of William & Mary in the rubber match of the series.
“We haven’t clicked on all aspects,” sophomore shortstop Kyle Weston said. “You have to have good defense, good pitching, good hitting, two out of those three to win most ball games and I think a lot of times this year we’ve just had one so you can’t put it all on [pitching].”
The last time JMU allowed 20 runs was in a May 23, 2013 loss to William & Mary — a game that saw 39 runs (20-19). Sunday had the most runs given up by JMU since March 14, 2010, when the team allowed 29 to Illinois State.
On a beautiful afternoon in the Valley, 1,294 people were in attendance to witness the drubbing. It was the third-highest recorded crowd at a home game. All three of the highest game attendances recorded have been big losses.
Friday’s series opener was pushed to Saturday because of rain, so the teams proceeded to play 18 innings in a doubleheader. A six-run fourth inning earned the Tribe a 13-5 win in game one. In game two, the Dukes trailed by two runs going into the ninth, but a double by senior second baseman Conner Brown tied the game at eight, and then a single by Weston gave JMU a 9-8 walk-off win to split the doubleheader.
“I tell you what,” assistant coach Ted White said. “These guys work extremely hard and that’s what gets taken for granted. After the first game yesterday, the only guys who believed that was a quality game were the guys on the field. No one else did. We were two hits away from making that first game yesterday a closer ballgame and no one saw that.”
Sunday started optimistically for JMU sunny skies, a walk-off, come-from-behind win just 16 hours earlier and a chance to take their second straight Colonial Athletic Association series victory.
“It was going to be a high scoring day, it’s a great day to hit,” White said. “When you can count all 50 stars on that flag, it’s a great day to hit, especially when the guy’s throwing hard.”
Head coach Spanky McFarland sat in a lawn chair, just behind the left field foul pole for Sunday’s game; he was ejected in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, forcing him to sit out Sunday’s rubber match per CAA rules. White was in charge of the moves for the Dukes in McFarland’s absence.
Sophomore right-hander Mark Gunst took the mound for JMU, but his outing was short-lived. So was the story of the day for all JMU pitchers. He gave up six earned runs on five hits in two-thirds innings pitched. That led to senior right-hander Trent Cundiff. He went one and a third innings, allowing three runs. Redshirt junior right-hander Michael Howerton gave up four runs in 17 total pitches, upping his ERA to 22.65.
This trend continued as it took eight JMU pitchers to complete Sunday’s nine innings. Six of those eight allowed multiple runs to the lethal Tribe lineup.
“There’s always a chance with us,” Gunst said. “We have a bad first inning, give up four or five runs and our hitters can bail us out. We just didn’t bring it today.”
Gunst said he doesn’t believe he’s ever thrown a game where he couldn’t get out of the first inning. When asked whether this was the worst he’s ever pitched, he replied, “Yeah, absolutely, it’s pretty terrible.”
Coming into Sunday, the Dukes ranked last in the CAA in team ERA and opponent batting average (.338). Their ERA is 1.95 points higher than the University of Delaware’s, the next-best team in the league. As of Sunday evening, the Dukes had given up 302 runs in the season while plating 204 of their own.
“We’re not blind to our ERA or our stats or anything,” Gunst said. “We can’t pay attention to that kind of stuff.”
The offense is there for JMU, but a remedy for pitching is needed and it’s needed fast. The Dukes registered six runs on 15 hits Sunday. On paper, these offensive numbers are solid and would typically correlate to a win. Look just inches up on the Eagle Field scoreboard, and you’d be blown away by William & Mary’s 23 hits on 24 runs Sunday.
Senior right fielder Tyler Gregory went 2-4 on the afternoon, knocking in three RBI’s. Junior center fielder Kevin Husum went 3-5, upping his team-best batting average to .344.
On the season,19 of JMU’s 21 losses have come when pitching has given up five or more runs. More specifically, out of those 19 loses, 11 times the pitching staff has given up 11 runs or more.
“Baseball’s going to put you in its place more than it’s going to give you a great deal of opportunities,” White said.
While the pitching frustrations continue to mount, the Dukes must keep their head up as they are surprisingly still right in the mix at the top of the conference standings. Sunday’s loss drops the Dukes to 12-21, 4-4 CAA. Delaware and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington both lost on Sunday, which allows JMU to remain in third place in league standings.
“There’s five things you need,” White said. “You need dominant pitching, you need timely hitting, hitting throughout the order, power and speed. I tell you what, we’re doing a good job of only showing up and doing one of those every single game.”
The team now hits the road for four games, beginning Tuesday night at Liberty University. JMU then heads south next weekend for a three-game series with the College of Charleston, who sits atop the CAA.
“We’re a process-based team,” White said. “There’s not a series that means more than any other. We need to go down there and play better baseball for 27-full innings.”
The process needs reform as an 18-run loss ruined a beautiful Sunday afternoon for JMU baseba
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William & Mary 24 JMU 6
