HARRISONBURG, Va. – Designated hitter Chris Henze collected a pair of doubles and drove in two runs, but it was not enough as Towson fell, 9-3, to James Madison in the first game of a three-game series Friday evening at Veterans Memorial Park.
 
After allowing a run in the first, Towson (11-28-2, 5-11 CAA) took advantage of a two-out throwing error to tie the game on a Mark Grunberg RBI single to center field.
 
The Dukes (14-24, 3-13 CAA) quickly regained the lead in the home-half of the inning on a Kyle McPherson two-run home run.  McPherson would add an RBI single in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1.
 
The Tigers began a comeback in the sixth as A.J. Gallo and Peter Bowles delivered back-to-back one-out singles.  Both players came around to score on Henze's two-run double to left center.
 
JMU would not allow the Tigers to get any closer as they scored at least one run in each of their last four at-bats.
 
Towson had their chances in the late innings as they had runners on the corners with one out in the seventh, and second and third with two outs in the eighth, but failed to score in both instances.
 
Aaron Hoover (4-3) earned the complete-game victory for the Dukes.  The lefty allowed three runs, two earned, on nine hits and seven strikeouts.  Bruce Zimmermann (3-3) took the loss after giving up five runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings.
 
Henze was one of three Tigers to collect two hits in the game.  Grunberg went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Bowles finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
 
The two teams play the middle game of the three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.