By Nick Pipitone

In the most important series of the season, the Pride baseball team was pitted against James Madison University (JMU) this past weekend. With the last seed of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament on the line, the Pride was able to squeak out a 9-5 win this past Monday at Mauk Stadium in Harrisionburg, Va., courtesy of a four-run ninth inning. However, the club ultimately lost the series and presumably a shot to pack its bags and head to Wilmington, N.C., for its first ever CAA tournament appearance.

The Pride (21-29, 7-14 CAA) put itself into a precarious situation by losing to the Dukes on Saturday, 5-3, and Sunday, 8-7. After the smoke cleared from the pivotal weekend series, the Pride slipped from seventh to eighth in the standings behind the College of William & Mary.

JMU (19-29, 7-11) meanwhile, grabbed a stronghold of the sixth seed in the conference standings, jumping two spots from the previous weekend. The Pride, as of Sunday, is three games behind JMU and one behind William & Mary.

Now, with only one conference series remaining, the Pride, no longer controls its own destiny. In order for the Pride to secure the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament, it will have to win the remaining conference games and hope that JMU loses four out of its next six and William & Mary loses two of its next three in conference play.

The Pride will host last-place Old Dominion University (ODU) this weekend, while JMU faces the University of Delaware and George Mason University the following weekend. William & Mary takes on Towson the weekend of May 20-22.

“We played well enough to win all three games at James Madison, we just made a couple mistakes on Saturday and Sunday that cost us the games,” head coach Chris Dotolo said. “We still have a chance. If we win three conference games against ODU and a couple teams lose, we’re going to find ourselves in the conference tournament.”

All of these scenarios could have been avoided if only the Pride received a few breaks over what was an extremely unlucky weekend. In Saturday’s game, the Pride played JMU to a tie at 2 through eight innings before the Dukes scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, two of which came from a two-run home run by designated hitter Dan Santobianco. After scoring a run in the ninth to cut the lead to 5-3, sophomore Pat Rogers grounded into a double play with the tying runs on the corners to end the game.

Game two of the series for the Pride brought similar misfortune. After falling behind, 6-1, in the fourth, the team fought back and took the lead by scoring two runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. Junior third basemen Ricky Caputo, the team’s premier batter, drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out triple scoring junior first baseman Mike Walsh to take a 7-6 lead.

But, alas, the Dukes were able to summon late-game heroics yet again. In the bottom of the ninth, with closer Jeff Denlea on the mound and two outs for the Pride, JMU centerfielder Skyler Doom smacked a single into centerfield, scoring Davis Stoneburner. To the dismay of the Pride dugout, senior centerfielder and team captain Josh Stewart let the ball get past him after a bad bounce and Doom circled the bases for the game-winning run. And just like that, the Pride was looking to avoid the sweep instead of potentially winning the series.

“The funny things about baseball just caught up with us,” Walsh said. “ball takes a bad hop in the outfield and they end up walking off the field. It’s a tough break but that happens in baseball. It just didn’t bounce our way.”

Thanks to a dominant offensive performance by the torrid Caputo, the Pride stole a game from the Dukes and mathematically stay alive in the playoff race. Caputo went 3-for-4 Monday, scored three runs, driving in another three, and belting his team-leading 11th round-tripper of the season.

The Pride relinquished a five-run lead over the course of the game, but to put the Dukes away in the ninth after putting together a four-run inning. Denlea, who earned the loss in Sunday’s game, picked up the win on Monday, pitching an 1 1/3 innings of shutout baseball while allowing only one hit and striking out three. Denlea picked up for starter Will DeVito in the eighth after the sophomore starter allowed four earned runs on six hits.

Now, with its back pinned against the wall, the Pride must sweep ODU this weekend to advance to the CAA tournament.

“Since I’ve been here, this is the first time we’re playing for something,” junior catcher and third-year starter Steve Oliveri said. “We came off a real good win on Monday and we’re feeling real good right now because if we go into this weekend and sweep, we have a chance at making the conference tournament-and that’s exactly what we’re looking to do.”