Crowley, LA - John Melvin baseball continue their winning ways with a home doubleheader sweep of Nunez. The Millers have won 24 of their last 27 and currently 6 straight, including a 4-game sweep in Kansas.
Game 1 - McPherson, KS
JMU 10 - North Central Missouri 8
After two scoreless innings to start the game, the JMU offense got going in the 3rd inning, scoring 6 runs. The Millers would continue adding to their lead with 2 runs in the 4th inning and 2 more runs in the 5th inning. North Central Missouri made a late run in game 1, scoring 5 runs in the 5th and 3 in the final inning, but came up short of the comeback. The Millers big 3rd inning to get the scoring going started off with a lead-off single from Kole Sonnier and a walk from Trevor Durr. Kade Massey singled in Sonnier on a ground ball through the infield as the 3rd batter of the inning and Jonah Callais walked as the 4th batter. Noah Watkins singled in Durr and Massey with a single to right field, Zayne Earl was hit by a pitch, and Gavin Gary knocked in Callais and Watkins with a single of his own. Connor Pleasant was hit by a pitch and Kole Sonnier hit a sacrifice fly to score Earl to wrap up the massive 6-run 3rd inning.
Brandon Duraso started the game on the mound and picked up his 5th win of the season after working 4.1 innings, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 4 batters. Dane Mallon threw 2 innings in relief, including finishing the 5th inning after Duraso left the game. Willy Flynn picked up his 3rd save of the season, entering the game in the 7th inning, facing two batters and getting them both out to shut the door on the Pirates' comeback attempt.
2B: Andrew Ashby (8)
HBP: Connor Pleasant (5), Gavin Gary (5), Jonah Callais (4), Zayne Earl (1)
SB: Andrew Ashby (6), Connor Pleasant (16), Gavin Gary (5), Jonah Callais (7), Kole Sonnier (8)
Win: Brandon Duraso (5-1)
Save: Willy Flynn (3)
Game 2 - McPherson, KS
JMU 14 - North Central Missouri 4
North Central Missouri scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning and threw a clean inning in the bottom of the 1st to hold a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning. It was all JMU after that as the offense explodes for 14 runs and ended the game after 5 innings via the run rule. Taylor Walters led the offense in this game, going 3-3 with a double, 4 RBI's and scoring a run. Kade Massey also picked up a multi-hit game, going 2-4 with 2 RBI's and scoring 2 runs. Shilon Christmas and Noah Watkins had multi-RBI days, both picking up 2. 9 Millers scored a run in Game 2, with Jonah Callais leading the way, crossing the plate 3 times in the game.
The thing that we all love about baseball are the oddities that baseball gives us day-to-day, and this doubleheader was no different. Jonah Callais finished Game 2 with 0 official at-bats after a walk and getting hit by the pitch twice. Gavin Gary pinch hit for Callais late in the game and proceeded to get hit by a pitch hitting in his spot. Trevor Durr had a doubleheader that you just don't see very often. Durr started both games in the doubleheader, finishing the day 0-1 with and astounding 6 walks on the day.
Cabet John Blanchard picked up his 3rd win of the season in the Game 2 start. Blanchard threw 4 innings, allowing 4 runs and allowing his offense to do their work. Noah Watkins threw a clean 5th inning in relief of Blanchard, picking up a strikeout and finishing the game after the offense finished off the run rule.
2B: Noah Watkins (6), Taylor Walters (3)
HBP: Jonah Callais 2 (6), Gavin Gary (6)
Win: Cabet John Blanchard (3-0)
Game 1 - McPherson, KS
JMU 10 - McPherson College 2
The John Melvin offense came out hot in the early innings of Game 1 and held on in the middle innings to finish off the win. The Millers scored 1 run in the 1st, 7 in the 2nd, and 1 in the 3rd to take a 9-0 lead after 3 innings and coasted to the victory from there. Kole Sonnier, Andrew Ashby, Shilon Christmas, and Jonah Callais all had multi-hit days to lead the offense and 9 different Millers scored runs in Game 2, lead by Gavin Gary with 2 runs scored.
Freshman Garrett Walker earned the Game 1 start and picked up his 2nd win of the season after working 4 strong innings. Walker allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, picking up 6 strikeouts along the way. Freshman Noah Berg made his college debut in Game 1 and picked up the 1st save of his college career to go along with it. Berg, affectionately nicknamed "Socks", threw 3 innings in relief, allowing no runs on 2 hits and picking up 2 strikeouts in his college debut
2B: Kole Sonnier 2 (10), Andrew Ashby (9), Jonah Callais (4)
3B: Andrew Ashby (5)
HBP: Joe Teuton IV 2 (3)
Win: Garrett Walker (2-1)
Save: Noah Berg (1)
Game 2 - McPherson, KS
JMU 17 - McPherson College 8
Game 2 was a record-breaker for the JMU offense which set the single-game record for runs scored in a game at 17 runs. The Miller offense came out of the gate swinging a hot bat and never let up, scoring 2 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 5 in the 4th, and 8 runs in the 5th innings to finish off their record-breaking day. Taylor Walters and Noah Watkins led the offense in Game 2. Walters went 3-3 with a double, 3 RBI's, and scored 2 runs while Watkins went 3-4 with a triple, 4 RBI's and 2 runs scored. Kole Sonnier and Kade Massey also picked up multi-hit days with Massey knocking in 2 runs to go along with it. 11 different Millers scored a run in Game 2, let by Joe Teuton IV with 3 runs scored and Kade Massey, Taylor Walters, Gavin Gary, and Noah Watkins all scoring 2.
Following up a day where Trevor Durr went 0-1 with 6 walks, Durr had another one of those days today, starting both games of the doubleheader and finished the day 1-1 with a triple and 5 more walks. Durr started all 4 games of the Kansas trip and leaves going 1-2 at the plate with a triple and absurd 11 walks in 4 games.
Troy Morel picked up his team-leading 6th win of the season in the Game 2 start. Morel threw 4 innings in the start, allowing 1 run on just 1 hit allowed and striking out 6 Bulldog batters. Brody Smith entered the game in relief, throwing a clean 5th-inning before an error in the 6th allowed the Bulldog bats to get going. Bryce Oquinn and Willy Flynn finished off the Kansas sweep, throwing a combined 1.1 innings and allowing 0 runs.
2B: Joe Teuton IV (2), Taylor Walters (4)
3B: Connor Pleasant (1), Noah Watkins (3), Trevor Durr (2)
HBP: Dylan Jiminez (3), Jonah Callais (7), Joe Teuton IV (4), Kade Massey (10)
SB: Joe Teuton IV (2), Kade Massey (3)
Win: Troy Morel (6-1)
JMU FINISHED OFF THE KANSAS TRIP 4-0 AND CAME HOME FOR A MATCH-UP WITH NUNEZ
The John Melvin and Nunez match-up is quickly becoming a heated rivalry. The two teams had met twice heading into this doubleheader and had split both doubleheaders previously, including a Nunez walk-off home run in their first meeting and a 1-run Miller victory in their 2nd meeting. John Melvin would take a 4-2 lead in the season series and tie the all-time series at 5 games each after walk-off wins in both games of the doubleheader to sweep the day at home.
Game 1: JMU 11 - Nunez 10
Game 1 was a back-and-forth game where neither team was able to feel comfortable for more than a few outs. JMU scored a run in the 1st and 4 more in the 3rd to take a 5-0 lead into the 4th inning, that was the biggest lead of the game before Nunez scored 3 in the 4th to bring the game closer. Taylor Walters and Andrew Ashby led the day on offense, each going 3-5 in the game. The bottom half of the lineup came up big in the game with Taylor Walters, Andrew Ashby, Connor Pleasant, and Dylan Jiminez combing for all 10 RBI's that the offense had in Game 1 and scoring 6 runs to go along with it.
Starting in the Top of the 6th, the swing of emotions in this game was not for the faint of heart. The Millers entered the top of the 6th inning leading the game 5-3, that lead would not be long-lived as the Nunez offense exploded for 5 runs to take an 8-5 lead. With 1 out and 2 runners on base in the 6th, Conner Pleasant drove a ball deep into left field that got the hearts of Miller fans racing thinking it might be the game-tying home run, the ball came up just short and ended as a sacrifice fly that scored Trystin Gilbert and bring the score to 8-6. Dylan Jiminez, the transfer from Nunez came up one batter later and sent a 1-2 pitch into the night and over the center field fence to tie the game at 8 heading into the 7th. The JMU excitement from the game-tying home run would not last long as Nunez came up with a 2-run home run of their own to take a 10-8 lead in the top of the final inning, looking to close out their own hard-fought victory. The John Melvin offense was not going to go down easy. Kole Sonnier led off the inning with a single to center, Trevor Durr followed that up with a 2nd straight single and Joe Teuton IV got the job done with a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and the Millers needing 2 runs to tie the game. The JMU offense would make it a 1-run game with aggressive baserunning when Kole Sonnier scored on a dropped 3rd strike throw to 1st for the out. Runner on 3rd, 2 outs, down by 1, Andrew Ashby stepped to the plate. It took just 2 pitches for the at-bat to end. Ashby watched ball 1 go by, and promptly sent the 1-0 pitch deep into the night and over the left field fence for a 2-run walk-off home run. The Ashby home run was the Millers 3rd walk-off home run of the season, joining the Shilon Christmas walk-off 3-run home run in extra innings against Coastal Alabama and the Kole Sonnier walk-off solo shot against Texas A&M.
Following the Kansas trip where Trevor Durr went 1-2 with 11 walks in 4 games, Durr continued the trend with another game of going 1-2 with another 3 walks in Game 1.
Starter Troy Morel, Peyton Ford, Willy Flynn, and Caleb Ougel all pitched in Game 1. While a high-scoring and even higher tension game may not lead to impressive final stats for the pitchers, all came up with massive outs to give the offense the opportunity to win the game late. Caleb Ougel picked up the first win of his college career in the Game 1 victory.
2B: Taylor Walters 2 (6)
HR: Andrew Ashby (5), Connor Pleasant (3), Dylan Jiminez (2)
HBP: Connor Pleasant (6)
SB: Noah Watkins 3 (12), Connor Pleasant 2 (18), Andrew Ashby (7)
Win: Caleb Ougel (1-0)
Game 2: JMU 5 - Nunez 4
Following the emotions of a back-and-forth game 1 of the doubleheader, it appeared that the Millers were going to build off the energy and run away with Game 2 after scoring 4 runs in the 1st inning to take a 4-0 lead. A Connor Pleasant single, Kole Sonnier walk, and Joe Teuton IV hit by pitch loaded the bases with 1 out in the 1st inning. 2 runs scored when Jonah Callais singled to center field and 2 more runs scored when Andrew Ashby doubled down the left field line to quickly jump out to the 4-0 lead. The JMU offense would go cold after the 1st inning and Miller fans would slowly watch the lead fade away.
Once again, the drama and tensions of the game would ramp up in the 6th inning the game. JMU led the game 4-1 entering the 6th inning after a strong start by the starting pitcher. Nunez hit a solo shot home run in the top of the 6th inning to bring the JMU lead to 4-2 entering the 7th inning. With 2 outs and a 2-run lead, the Millers were looking to close out a big-time Game 2 v victory. On pitch number 8 of an incredible battle between pitcher and hitter, the Nunez 3-hole hitter sent a 3-2 fastball over the left field wall to tie the game at 4 with 2 outs in the final inning. After yet another swing of emotions in the ballpark, the Miller offense went to work in the bottom of the 7th. Game 1 walk-off hero Andrew Ashby led off the inning, looking to have a day for the history books. Ashby wouldn't see a pitch to hit in the at-bat, walking to lead off the inning. Noah Watkins would follow up Ashby with a walk of his own and Nunez would intentionally walk Caleb Ougel to load the bases with no outs, needing just 1 run to win the game. It took just 1 pitch for Gavin Gary to hit the walk-off winning single over the 1st baseman to score Andrew Ashby and send the Millers home with a doubleheader sweep. Andrew Ashby scored the winning run in both walk-off victories for JMU. Gavin Gary hit the 5th walk-off of the year for the Millers, joining the Shilon Christmas 3-run walk-off home run in extras over Coastal Alabama, the Kade Massey walk-off double over Texas A&M, the Kole Sonnier solo shot walk-off over Texas A&M the next day, and the Andrew Ashby walk-off 2-run shot over Nunez in Game 1.
Freshman Garrett Walker gave the Millers an outstanding start in Game 2, throwing 5 innings and allowing just 1 unearned run on 1 hit and striking out 4 batters. Noah Watkins and Gavin LeBlanc finished out the emotional game, throwing the 6th and 7th innings respectively.
2B: Andrew Ashby (9)
HBP: Joe Teuton IV (4), Kole Sonnier (8)
SB: Jonah Callais (8)
Win: Gavin LeBlanc (5-1)
JMU improves to 28-9 on the season and will be back in action Tuesday, April 2nd in New Orleans and the Millers will take on #17 ranked Delgado on the road. First pitch at 1 PM.
