Horrible, No-Good, Putrid, Retched Weekend for JMU Sports

You know it’s been a really bad weekend of sports action when the unquestioned highlight is a tie game!  In baseball no less.  Seriously, a tie on the diamond.  Unless Bud Selig’s involved, that’s just not something you see everyday.

The Good

Bueller?  Bueller?

The Bad

The Diamond Dukes tied national powerhouse and neighborhood rival UVA in an ugly, rain-soaked game in South Carolina to wrap up a season opening trip 0-2-1.  Ughhh.  Given the zillion-game schedule in baseball, probably not worth getting too worked up over, but for a team with high expectations, this definitely qualified as stumbling out of the gate.  On Friday, the Dukes threw a huge crooked number up in the “E” column and got blown out by tourney hosts Coastal Carolina 7-1.  Then Saturday, JMU hit into a seemingly impossible five double plays in falling 8-5 to Boston College.  But no worries, they “salvaged” the weekend with a 4-4 tie against the Cavaliers when the game had to be called after the 8th inning turned into a deluge.  At least the Dukes come home for their Veterans Memorial Stadium opener Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Longwood.

The Ugly

Traveling without injured Head Coach Matt Brady (ruptured achilles – seriously are you kidding me with the injuries this season?), it was to no one’s surprise that men’s hoops got handled 82-70 in their bracketbuster game at Detroit.  Dick Vitale coached there.  Other than that, nothing really to report about another rock in the mountain of losses piling up this season.  Thankfully, with the prestigious and annual trip to the 8/9 game in the CAA tourney looming a week from Friday, we can all be thankful the deathwatch is almost over.

Equally ugly though a good deal more surprising, Women’s hoops laid their biggest egg of the season at Northeastern Sunday in a shocking 61-50 loss to the Huskies in which no Dukes player was even in double figures.  The Dukes fell to 20-6 and 11-4 in the CAA and in a symetrical oddity the Huskies “improved” to 6-20 and 4-11.  Kenny Brooks’ team better not forget this one though, as the Dukes are still in solid position for the #2 seed in the women’s tourney in three weeks in scenic downtown Upper Marlboro while the Huskies look headed to the 7/11 matchup, with the winner advancing to play the Dukes.  One weird note from this game though could explain a little about the Dukes seeming lack of preparation.  With all the membership changes in the conference and resulting odd and unbalanced schedules, this was actually JMU’s first game at Northeastern in a few years.