Steal the bags

By JACKSON HEPHNER The Breeze

On a cold, damp Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park, redshirt junior shortstop Mason Dunaway is up to bat in the bottom of the first inning, with graduate center fielder Jack Cone already on first base.

During Dunaway’s at-bat, Cone darts toward second base. Dunaway then gets walked, and during the next at-bat, both scamper toward the next base. With Cone now on third base and Dunaway on second, a double from sophomore right fielder Fenwick Trimble drives in Cone to score, while Dunaway tags out at third.

The sequence put the Dukes up 1-0 on day two of their threegame series with Cornell, which they swept.

Stealing bases is nothing new to JMU. When JMU defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 12-2, in 2022, Dukes’ head coach Marlin Ikenberry praised his team’s base-running ability.

“We’ve got tremendous team speed,” he said, “and we take extra bases when we can.”

Exactly one year later, Ikenberry’s stance on stealing bases hasn’t changed, calling it a part of the Dukes’ offense following Saturday’s 9-2 win and said putting pressure on other teams is a “main focus.”

In JMU’s 10-8 win over George Washington on Tuesday, the Dukes stole four bases with two leading to runs and 14 bases before the contest — tied for 27th in the nation — on 22 attempts. Ikenberry said the team is “running the bases hard” and it's something that's been emphasized by the coaching staff to start the year.

But a primary difference between this year and last year for JMU is hitting. JMU’s offense has had to adapt to a lack of power hitters in the lineup.

Despite only appearing in 24 games last season, former redshirt sophomore outfielder and left-handed pitcher Chase DeLauter had the highest slugging percentage (.828) of any player with more than one at-bat. The next best percentage on the team was a .632 from redshirt junior catcher Travis Reifsnider. Both players are now gone — DeLauter was drafted by the Cleveland Guardians, and Reifsnider transferred to U.Va.

Some of JMU’s power-hitting core remains. Sophomore infielder/outfielder Fenwick Trimble has started the year with a .808 slugging percentage. Redshirt senior utility player Trevon Dabney returned for a fifth year and has improved his percentage from .543 last season to .600.

Trimble and Dabney have helped bring power to the lineup, but only Dabney has led off so far, and just once. Instead, Cone and Dunaway have led off JMU’s starting lineup in seven of its first eight games. Only in the final game against Cornell on Sunday was Dabney put in the first spot in the lineup. Trimble has yet to be put in the first or second spot.