James Madison freshman Tyler Lutz led the Dukes to a 5-3 victory over Marshall on May 3, securing a series win in Sun Belt Conference baseball at Veterans Memorial Park.
The game marked Lutz’s second consecutive quality start, as he pitched a season-long seven innings. The Dukes improved their record to 20-26 overall and 10-14 in conference play, while Marshall fell to 21-26 overall and 11-13 in the Sun Belt.
Junior Ike Schmidly contributed two runs batted in, including his eleventh home run of the season during his first at bat. Senior Wyatt Campbell, junior Josiah Seguin, and redshirt sophomore Clay Thompson each recorded two hits out of four at bats. Senior Jaden Kinsler closed out the game with a perfect inning for his third save of the year.
The Dukes took an early lead in the first inning when Schmidly homered. In the third inning, sophomore Jack Anderson singled and later scored on a double by junior Kyle Langley. The team maintained their advantage throughout key moments: regaining a two-run lead after Schmidly’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and responding to Marshall’s eighth-inning rally with an RBI single from Thompson.
Lutz’s seven-inning outing was noted as the longest by any Duke since Max Kuhle threw a complete game on May 2 last year against Georgia Southern. The team also set a new program record for single-season sacrifice hits with fifty-seven and achieved a .444 batting average (four-for-nine) with runners in scoring position during this game.
Looking ahead, James Madison will travel for their final midweek contest of the season against George Washington on Tuesday, May 5.
