Schulefand and Forte Homer Late in Loss to James Madison

Tuesday, February 18

Pitt Field

1:30 PM

University of Richmond

0-4

James Madison

1-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
James Madison	4	0	3	2	0	2	0	1	0	12	14	0
Richmond	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	8	4

Photo by: Spiders Athletics

Schulefand and Forte Homer Late in Loss to James Madison

02/18/2020 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

RICHMOND, Va. – The James Madison Dukes played spoilers to Richmond baseball's home opening game Tuesday evening at Pitt Field. The Spiders fell behind early and were unable to mount the comeback needed for the win. Outfielders Jordan Schulefand (Parkland, Fla.) and Anthony Forte (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) each hit their first home runs of the season, but it wasn't enough for the Spiders. Richmond falls to 0-4 on the season and JMU improves to 1-3.

Freshman left-hander Jeremy Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) made his collegiate debut on the hill. Neff went 2.0 innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and struck out three. Matt Olson (Smyrna, Ga.) threw an inning in relief with a stirkeout. Garrett Aylor (Austin, Texas) tossed an inning and surrendered two runs. Mason Majors (Kansas City, Mo.) worked a clean inning with a strikeout.

Sammy Senders (Potomac, Md.) was next on, going 0.2 innings and allowing two earned runs to go with two strikeouts. Antonio Balducci (Mechanicsville, Va.) was next on, going 1.1 innings without allowing a hit and recording a strikeout. Theo Farynick (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.) and Jarrad DeLarso (Marlton, N.J.) finished the game out. Farynick allowed an unearned run to go with two strikeouts, while DeLarso worked a scoreless ninth.

The Spider offense combined for eight hits, led by a 2-for-3 performance form Daniel Little (Nicholasville, Ky.) in the nine-hole. Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.), Forte, Drew Blakely (Galesburg, Mich.), Dan Leckie (Suffield, Conn.), Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) and Schulefand each recorded one hit. Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.), Forte, Blakely and Schulefand each recorded an RBI.

The Dukes jumped out to an early lead, plating four runs in the top of the first inning. Chase DeLauter led the game off with a single back up the middle and came around to score when Conor Hartigan's single to centerfield got past the centerfielder and rolled to the wall. A fielding error allowed a run to score before Fox Semones hit a two-run home run to centerfield to put the Dukes up 4-0.

James Madison took advantage of another Spider error to plate three more in the top of the third before the Spiders could answer. Richmond pushed two across in the bottom of the frame. Little singled and moved to third after a Hipsman double. Toso ground out to second base to drive in Little, and Blakely singled to bring in HIpsman and cut the lead to 7-2.

JMU responded with two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. A lead off hit by pitch set the table for Brady Harju who tripled off the centerfield wall and later came in to score on a sacrifice fly. The Dukes added two more runs thanks to Semones's second home run of the afternoon, another two-run shot to go up 11-2. JMU added an unearned run in the top of the eight.

Schulefand cut the lead to nine with his first home run of the season, sending the pitch over the left field wall in the bottom of the eighth, and Forte followed with a solo shot of his own in the ninth.

Richmond returns to action this Friday as it hosts Lehigh for the first of a three-game series over the weekend. Friday's first pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.

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