Score Game 1: James Madison 6, UAlbany 3
 
Score Game 2: Michigan State 4, UAlbany 1
 
Location: Flour Field – Greenville, S.C.
 
Records: UAlbany (0-5, 0-0 AE) | JMU (4-5, 0-0 SBC) | Michigan State (3-5, 0-0 BIG10)
 
Short Story: The Great Danes battled in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, highlighted by a strong pitching performance in game two, but ultimately fell in both contests.
 
Coach Jon Mueller: "Overall we played well. We had limited opportunities offensively throughout the day. Winning the free pass game is vital to our development and we accomplished that today. We will keep plugging away offensively and have another opportunity tomorrow."
 
Key Stats Game 1:

• UAlbany Pitchers:
  • Dylan Banner – 5.0 IP | 5 ER | 7 H
  • Zach Nalawadi – 1.0 IP | 0 ER | 1 H
• Kyle Stephens led the offense with a 2-4 performance at the plate.
• Cooper Loyal tripled and drove in a run.
• Patrick DeSarno went 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
• Victor Mazzara added an RBI single and scored once.

Key Stats Game 2:

• UAlbany Pitchers:
  • Christian Mello – 3.0 IP | 2 ER | 2 H | 5 BB | 5 K
  • Ethan Nardacci – 3.2 IP | 2 ER | 2 H | 5 K
  • Matthew Mariano – 1.1 IP | 0 ER | 1 H | 3 K
• Michael Maggio went 2-4 with a double and an RBI.
• Kyle Stephens doubled and scored UAlbany's lone run.
• Luke Filippi added a hit and drew two walks.
• The UAlbany pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts in game two.

How it Happened Game 1:

• Dylan Banner started on the mound for the Great Danes, working through three scoreless innings to open the game.
• James Madison broke through in the fourth inning, scoring four runs on four hits and capitalizing on a defensive miscue to take a 4-0 lead.
• The Dukes added a solo home run in the fifth to extend the advantage to 5-0.
• UAlbany responded in the sixth. After Victor Mazzara reached and advanced on a sacrifice bunt, Patrick DeSarno drove him home with an RBI single. Cooper Loyal followed with a triple down the right field line to cut the deficit to 5-2.
• In the seventh, the Great Danes continued to battle as Mazzara delivered another RBI knock to bring the score to 5-3.
• James Madison answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to push the lead back to three.
• UAlbany put runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings but was unable to complete the comeback.

How it Happened Game 2:

• Christian Mello started on the mound for the Great Danes and worked around early traffic, striking out three in the opening frame.
• Michigan State took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on two bases-loaded walks.
• UAlbany answered in the fourth when Kyle Stephens doubled and later scored on an RBI single from Michael Maggio to cut the deficit to 2-1.
• Ethan Nardacci entered in relief and provided 3.2 strong innings, striking out five and keeping the Spartans off the board through the sixth.
• Michigan State added two runs in the seventh on a two-RBI sequence to extend the lead to 4-1.
• Matthew Mariano closed the game with 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out three.

Next: The Great Danes close out the First Pitch Invitational tomorrow, March 1 with a game against Illinois at 10:00 AM.
 
Keep up with UAlbany baseball by following the team on X (@UAlbanybaseball), Instagram (@ualbanybaseball), and Facebook (UAlbany Baseball).