University of North Carolina Athletics
Game 1: JMU 11, FIU 7
June 3, 2011 | Baseball
June 3, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) _ It's been a while since James Madison has lost. With one huge inning late, the Dukes made sure their winning streak wouldn't end in their NCAA tournament opener.
Jake Lowery homered and drove in three runs to lead James Madison past Florida International 11-7 on Friday in the opening game at the Chapel Hill Regional.
David Herbek finished with two RBIs and drove in the go-ahead run during a six-run seventh inning that put the third-seeded Dukes (41-17) ahead for good and extended the nation's longest active winning streak to 10.
"I know, personally, I can't remember the last time we lost. There's a lot of confidence that comes with that," Herbek said. "We've played great in a lot of aspects, but some games, we haven't played as well and we still won.
"We know if one part of our game's down, we're going to make up for it elsewhere," he added. "Today, we had a rough start pitching and the position guys picked it up hitting. ... There's definitely a comfort knowing we haven't lost in a while, and it just feels right to win."
Lowery, the Colonial Athletic Association's player of the year, finished 3 for 4, while Matt Tenaglia drove in two runs for James Madison.
Five players homered for second-seeded FIU (40-19-1): Garrett Wittels, Jabari Henry, Pablo Bermudez, Yoandy Barroso and Mike Martinez. The Panthers had lost only twice in their previous 23 games.
D.J. Brown (9-1) relieved starter Sean Tierney in the second and struck out five in 7 1-3 innings for the win.
The Dukes trailed 6-5 in the seventh before eight consecutive batters reached base to start their big inning.
Lowery tied it at 6 with an RBI single off reliever Jose Velazquez. Herbek followed with a bloop double down the right-field line that scored Johnny Bladel with the go-ahead run.
"We call (Velazquez) the machine for a reason," FIU coach Turtle Thomas said. "Normally, he's like money in the bank. Death, taxes and money in the bank, he's about as sure a bet as you want. Today, they didn't really hit the ball that great, but everything they hit just got by an infielder, just got into the outfield, just blooped over the infielder's heads. It wasn't like he was making bad pitches and he got crushed ... but they got the hits and they found the holes."
Tenaglia then delivered a two-run single to right that brought home Lowery and Herbek to make it 9-6, and Alex Foltz followed that with a run-scoring single that made it a four-run game and gave the Dukes plenty of breathing room.
Lowery hit his team-leading 23rd homer in the first to put James Madison up 1-0. An inning later, he delivered a bases-loaded single that scored three runs.
Henry and Bermudez hit back-to-back solo homers in the second for the Panthers, before Brown retired 10 consecutive hitters during the middle innings.
"We felt like if we could stop them," James Madison coach Spanky McFarland said, "we were going to score eventually."
