HARRISONBURG, Va. – In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, Texas State (13-9, 3-1 Sun Belt) claimed an 11-5 contest in the series opener over James Madison (13-9, 1-3 Sun Belt) Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.
 
Six Bobcats had multiple hit games led by three from Aaron Lugo. The junior third baseman fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, drove in two runs and scored twice.
 
Rashawn Galloway, Alec Patino, Davis Powell, August Ramirez and Kameron Weil all had two base knocks apiece. Weil set a career-high with three RBI and swiped two bases to match his career best. Finishing with two RBI was Galloway with one apiece coming on a double.
 
Otto Wofford (1-0) earned his first win of the season after working a scoreless inning. Jaden Kinsler (3-2) gave up six runs on seven hits and three walks to be credited with the loss.
 
Striking out three in 3.2 innings and getting the start was Austin Eaton, who allowed five runs, two of them earned, on seven hits. Peyton Zabel struck out two in 1.1 innings out of the bullpen and Jonathan Martinez punched out three in two scoreless frames. Tony Robie finished the contest and tossed a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.
 
After a scoreless first inning, TXST got on the board first with a three-run second. Lugo led off the frame with a double and would score on a double off the bat of Galloway. The second run came in as Weil groundout out to the second baseman and the final run was scored after a throwing error allowed Ryne Farber to reach base.
 
The Dukes would respond with two runs in their half of the inning.
 
Patino started the third off by going the other way for a single. Two batters later, Lugo crushed a 3-1 pitch to left field for a two-run homer that game him a team leading seven round trippers on the season. Weil would bring home the third run of the inning after poking a single to center to increase the lead to 6-2.
 
A couple of miscues allowed JMU to cut into its deficit with a three-run fifth inning.
 
With two outs in the eighth, Weil singled as the ball hit off the first base bag and he would later steal second. Back-to-back walks were issued to Farber and Powell to load the bases. Facing a 2-2 count, Patino hit a 2-2 pitch back up the middle that was misplayed by the second baseman to bring home two runs to increase the advantage to 8-5.
 
The Bobcats added to their total in the ninth on an RBI double by Galloway and a single back up the middle courtesy of Powell.
 
Robie started the ninth by getting a lineout to Lugo. The senior right-hander would strike out the next two batters with the last being looking on a 3-2 offering.
 
The second game of the series takes place on Saturday with the first pitch being moved back an hour to 3 p.m. CT due to forecasted inclement weather in the morning and early afternoon.
 
For all things Texas State baseball, be sure to follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.