Dukes lose 5-1 today just increasing the importance of the next two in Newark

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Dukes lose game 2 of the series at Delaware, 7-6. JMU will attempt to avoid the sweep Sunday.

Dukes up 2-0 in the 7th in what has almost become a must-win game

4-0 now with runners on 1st and 3rd and one out in the top of the 8th.

6-0 top of the 9th and no outs. JMU scored 4 in the 8th to blow the game open.

JMU could potentially score more runs over the weekend than UD and go 1-2. Baseball is an odd game. Maybe they should make it like cricket and keep a running tally during a 3 game series. Kidding of course.

No surprise, but home game against NSU cancelled today due to rain.

Good baseball article by Madia today.

I think this really shows what the state of the pitching staff was when Ike took over the program and the shift in the mindset of the program from all about offense to embracing the program's shift to prioritize pitching and defense.

2015 ERA - 7.33 (Last year of Spanky)
2016 ERA - 6.58 (Year 1 Ike)
2017 ERA - 5.57 (Year 2 Ike)
2018 ERA - 3.58 (Year 3 Ike ----top 50 ERA nationally)

I know folks want more wins and want them now. I do as well. But this revitalization of a pitching staff that was absolutely atrocious was key before you can really start to win with consistency year-in/year-out. Now that the pitching staff and defense have improved greatly, I think JMU is poised to be a consistent winner.

Just like you need defense to win in football you need pitching and defense to win in baseball.

(04-25-2018 07:47 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  Good baseball article by Madia today.

I think this really shows what the state of the pitching staff was when Ike took over the program and the shift in the mindset of the program from all about offense to embracing the program's shift to prioritize pitching and defense.

2015 ERA - 7.33 (Last year of Spanky)
2016 ERA - 6.58 (Year 1 Ike)
2017 ERA - 5.57 (Year 2 Ike)
2018 ERA - 3.58 (Year 3 Ike ----top 50 ERA nationally)

I know folks want more wins and want them now. I do as well. But this revitalization of a pitching staff that was absolutely atrocious was key before you can really start to win with consistency year-in/year-out. Now that the pitching staff and defense have improved greatly, I think JMU is poised to be a consistent winner.

Just like you need defense to win in football you need pitching and defense to win in baseball.

You can definitely see it in the recruiting. I don't mean it as a slight to previous players to say that a guy who is 6'4", 220 is likely to have more leverage than someone 5'9", 175 on average, but we're accumulating arms with fastball speeds in the upper 80's/high 90's, where even last year, I think a lot of guys were hitting in the lower 80's on the gun. Over time you are going to get weaker contact and miss more bats, and that's going to give you a better chance to win close games.

(04-25-2018 11:53 AM)tribe_transfer Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 07:47 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  Good baseball article by Madia today.

I think this really shows what the state of the pitching staff was when Ike took over the program and the shift in the mindset of the program from all about offense to embracing the program's shift to prioritize pitching and defense.

2015 ERA - 7.33 (Last year of Spanky)
2016 ERA - 6.58 (Year 1 Ike)
2017 ERA - 5.57 (Year 2 Ike)
2018 ERA - 3.58 (Year 3 Ike ----top 50 ERA nationally)

I know folks want more wins and want them now. I do as well. But this revitalization of a pitching staff that was absolutely atrocious was key before you can really start to win with consistency year-in/year-out. Now that the pitching staff and defense have improved greatly, I think JMU is poised to be a consistent winner.

Just like you need defense to win in football you need pitching and defense to win in baseball.

You can definitely see it in the recruiting. I don't mean it as a slight to previous players to say that a guy who is 6'4", 220 is likely to have more leverage than someone 5'9", 175 on average, but we're accumulating arms with fastball speeds in the upper 80's/high 90's, where even last year, I think a lot of guys were hitting in the lower 80's on the gun. Over time you are going to get weaker contact and miss more bats, and that's going to give you a better chance to win close games.

Exactly.....I know one recruit personally from Louisa County that will be an incoming freshman (SS/P) that has been starting at the varsity level since he was a HS freshman. The best players on HS teams tend to be SS/P. Kid has upper 80's fastball and is like 6'2", 200.

Got to have a stable of good arms and that is something that I think has not been corrected.

(04-25-2018 12:08 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  Got to have a stable of good arms and that is something that I think has not been corrected.

Yeah, it is most noticeable in mid-week games where we rely heavily on the bullpen. We've dropped some close ones when we've had to get 3-5 deep into the pen and couldn't quite hold a lead. I think we have multiple pitchers coming next year who hit ~88-90 right now and I would think they'd be able to bump that a tad higher during their college years.

We have some pretty good size coming in with the next recruiting class. Hopefully that'll add some bats with pop in the lineup because we've had to rely on manufacturing runs more frequently the past two years I've been following the team: https://jmusports.com/news/2017/11/15/ba...g-day.aspx

(04-25-2018 12:30 PM)tribe_transfer Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 12:08 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  Got to have a stable of good arms and that is something that I think has not been corrected.

Yeah, it is most noticeable in mid-week games where we rely heavily on the bullpen. We've dropped some close ones when we've had to get 3-5 deep into the pen and couldn't quite hold a lead. I think we have multiple pitchers coming next year who hit ~88-90 right now and I would think they'd be able to bump that a tad higher during their college years.

We have some pretty good size coming in with the next recruiting class. Hopefully that'll add some bats with pop in the lineup because we've had to rely on manufacturing runs more frequently the past two years I've been following the team: https://jmusports.com/news/2017/11/15/ba...g-day.aspx

It is noticeable in the mid-week games especially if we have 2 mid-week games. But I typed I meant to say -- Got to have a stable of good arms and that is something that I think has mostly been corrected/addressed.

Good Guys at Twerpville today... Live Stats Link: http://www.umterps.com/liveStats/v2/base...m_id=29700

Dukes got a run in the top 9th to avoid the shutout, but go down to the Turtles, 6-1.

A week off of CAA play resulted in excellent news for the Dukes with all the teams around us losing ground especially Delaware getting swept and UNCW losing two. We currently sit in 7th place (top 6 make conference tourney)

School Conference Record
Northeastern 12-3
Charleston 12-6
Elon 9-6
Hofstra 10-8
UNCW 8-7
Delaware 7-8
James Madison 6-9
Towson 5-10
William & Mary 3-15

Dukes have 3 CAA series left: Home vs UNCW and @ Hofstra and @ Towson. Series wins in 2/3 of them probably sneak us in, but time to start playing as if we were in the tournament now.

JMU hosting UNCW in a huge series now on MadiZone/Caa.tv

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Hawks take the early lead with a run in the top of the 1st.

looks like storm on the way on TV. wind shaking camera pretty hard. Dukes tie it up on a wild pitch

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Yep. Looking at the radar, it could get rather "interesting" weather wise shortly.

Free baseball. Headed to the 10th

wow just awful defense in the 10th gifting the game away. should be out of the inning without any runs. one in and still two guys on

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