The Virginia baseball team takes on James Madison at 3 p.m. today at the U.Va. Baseball Field following the mixed results of a 2-6 stretch over Spring Break.
The Cavaliers (12-9, 1-2 ACC) are coming off a 1-2 showing against No. 1 Florida State (24-5, 2-1) in Charlottesville despite offensive efforts by senior infielder/pitcher Dan Street and junior infielder Robert Word.
The Dukes (15-4) are coming to Charlottesville on a four-game winning streak, including a sweep of St. Joseph's and a victory over UNC-Greensboro.
The Dukes bring an impressive offensive line into their matchup against the Cavaliers. The team holds a .327 batting average. Eight players sport batting averages over .300 and two are hitting over .400. The leading sluggers for JMU include redshirt junior pitcher Travis Ebaugh, with an average of .455, and junior first baseman Eddie Kim, who is batting .446.
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JMU also has proved impressive on the mound. The team's pitching staff currently maintains a 4.28 earned run average. Leading the Dukes in ERA is sophomore Kurt Isenberg, who has won all three games he has started, with an ERA of 1.35. Second best on the Dukes' staff is junior Jared Doyle, who holds a 4-1 record with an ERA of 2.77. The Dukes also hold a .965 fielding percentage.
"I have heard nothing but good things about JMU's team this year," Dan Street said. "It is supposed to be their best team in years. I have heard that their pitching has become a team strength. They always have hit well. This will be another good in-state team."
Though Virginia's team batting average is .287, the Cavaliers currently have five players batting over .300. Sophomore infielder Matt Street leads the team with a batting average of .373. Word is next on the list at .359.
The Cavaliers are comparable to the Dukes as far as pitching numbers go. Virginia will enter this afternoon's game with a 4.90 team ERA. Leading the staff in ERA and starts is sophomore Jeff Kamrath, who has an ERA of 2.43 over 37 innings in six starts. Kamrath's first loss came at the hands of Florida State in the first game of Saturday's double-header. Defensively, the Cavaliers are holding steady at .955 fielding percentage as a team.
Last year, the Dukes swept the Cavaliers, winning 4-3 in Charlottesville and 7-6 in Harrisonburg. This year, they own victories over N.C. State and Maryland of the ACC.
"I hear that JMU has a decent club this year," Word said. They beat a couple of teams that are in our conference and some other big teams. They definitely aren't going to lay down and let us walk all over them, so we have to come out ready to play"
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