HARRISONBURG, Va. - Hoping to even their Colonial Athletic Association weekend series, the Tigers (25-25-1, 14-12) were held to six hits by two James Madison (33-17, 17-9) pitchers as the Tigers dropped a 7-3 decision to the Dukes on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the Tigers' fourth in a row, the Tigers dropped into fifth place in the CAA standings, one-half game behind Georgia State (35-17, 15-12). Georgia State beat William & Mary (24-27, 14-13) on Saturday to win their weekend series two games to one. Delaware (27-26, 16-14) split a doubleheader at Northeastern and is sixth in the CAA. William & Mary is one-half game behind Towson.

Junior righthander Evan Scott and sophomore righthander D.J. Brown teamed up to pitch a six-hitter against the Tigers. Neither pitcher issued any walks. Scott, who earned his third win of the season, pitched six innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He had six strikeouts. Brown threw the final three innings and allowed one run on one hit. He had three strikeouts and retired the final seven hitters he faced.

In the bottom of the first inning, junior leftfielder Johnny Bladel led off with a single through the left side. When freshman righthander Chris Acker (right) walked junior catcher Jake Lowery on four pitches, the Dukes had runners on first and second base with no outs.

Senior shortstop Dave Herbek lined a single to leftfield, scoring Bladel with the first run of the game. But, freshman leftfielder Dominic Fratantuono threw out Lowery, who was trying to reach third base on the hit. Acker escaped the inning without any further damage as he retired sophomore first baseman Matt Tenaglia on a fly ball to leftfield and senior Alex Foltz on a fly ball to rightfield.

After the rough first inning, Acker settled down nicely, shutting out the Dukes over the next three innings.

With two outs in the top of the third inning, the Tigers struck suddenly. With two outs, Fratantuono doubled down the left line. Then, senior shortstop Nick Natoli lined a two-run homer down the left field line, giving Towson a 2-1 advantage.

Acker protected the lead until the bottom of the fifth inning. Freshman Ty McFarland led off the inning by drawing a walk. Sophomore Bradley Shaban followed with a single and went to second base on the throw to third base. With runners on second and third and no outs, the Tigers played their infield up. Freshman Connor Brown hit a ground ball to Natoli at shortstop, who threw to home plate retiring McFarland. However, sophomore Cole McIntoff drove in the run with a squeeze bunt to third base as Shaban scored to tie the game at 2-2. Acker pitched out of the inning when he retired Bladel on a fly ball to right field.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Acker experienced control problems. After walking Lowery to lead off the inning, he fell behind Herbek by a 3-0 count. Then Herbek blasted his 15th homer of the season over the left field fence, giving JMU a 4-2 lead.

Acker was relieved by senior righthander Spencer Patton after the homer by Herbek. He retired the Dukes without further incident.

In the top of the seventh, D.J. Brown relieved Scott. With one out, sophomore catcher Andrew Parker was hit by a pitch. Then, junior Ben Winter doubled to right centerfield, scoring Parker all the way from first base. However, Winter was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.

With the lead trimmed to 4-3, the Dukes rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Connor Brown singled to left. McInturff followed with a single to rightfield. An RBI single to centerfield by Bladel drove in Brown to make it 5-3. Then, Lowery doubled to rightfield, driving in two runs to make it a 7-3 lead. Patton came back to retire the next two hitters.

Reinforced by the 7-3 lead, D.J. Brown retired the Tigers in order in the eighth and ninth inning, nailing down his third save of the season.

Acker, who allowed four runs on five hits in five innings of work, fell to 4-1 as he suffered the first loss of his college career. He walked three and struck out two. In three innings of relief, Patton gave up three runs on five hits.

Herbrek led the Dukes with two hits and three runs batted in while Bladel had two hits and scored two runs while driving in a run. Lowery was one-for-two and drew two walks. He had two RBI's.

The Dukes outhit Towson by a 10-6 margin.

Harclerode, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games, went two-for-four while Natoli was one-for-two with two RBI's. Winter had one hit and drove in a run.

The Tigers, who have lost four games in a row, will try and salvage the final game of the series on Sunday when Michael Trionfo pitches against JMU at 2:00 p.m.

Colonial Athletic Association Standings (As of May 14)

* CAA Schedule Complete