NEWARK, DE -- The University of Delaware baseball team’s ninth-inning rally fell just short as James Madison University posted a 5-4 victory in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon.

The Hens are locked into the second seed in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship tournament, and will take on George Mason on Wednesday.

Ryan Engelhardt (right) and Adam Tsakonas each had three hits for the Hens, while Kellen Kulbacki reached base in all five of his plate appearances for the Dukes (22-31, 11-17 CAA). Kulbacki walked four times to set a new school record for walks in a season with 56.

The Dukes loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first without the benefit of a hit. Steven Caseres then lofted a sacrifice fly to center for a 1-0 lead, but Delaware starter Mike McGuire got Matt Browning to ground into an around the horn double play to end the inning.

James Madison scored two more runs on only one hit in the third. Alex Foltz tripled to center and then scored on an error by Hens’ catcher Ryan Engelhardt. Mitchell Moses’ sacrifice fly then scored Kellen Kulbacki, and the Dukes were up 3-0.

Delaware finally got on the boar in the bottom of the sixth. Brandon Menchaca tripled with one out and then came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Alex Buchholz.

Madison had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh. Foltz broke for home as Delaware reliever Dan Richardson delivered home. Engelhardt applied the tag as Moses missed a bunt attempt, and the Hens were out of another jam.

The Hens loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning, but Dukes starter Bobby Lasko got Engelhardt to ground into a 1-2-3 double play and then Kyle Davis lined out to right to end the inning. The Hens added one in the eighth when Jablonski led off with a double and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Buchholz.

JMU added two more runs in the top of the ninth off of David Slovak to build a 5-2 lead. Delaware came storming back in the bottom half of the inning. Tsakonas led off with his sixth home run of the season to cut the lead to 5-3. With one out, Shockley reached on an error and a single up the middle by Engelhardt put runners on the corners. Shockley came into score on a wild pitch, and pinch-hitter Brent Gaphardt worked a walk after being down in the count 0-2. With the winning run now on base, Ryan Jablonski lined Lasko’s first pitch toward the right side, but it was snared by Dukes second baseman Joe Lake, who doubled off pinch-runner Danny Overcash to end the game.

Lasko pitched a complete game for his first win of the season, while McGuire took the loss to fall to 2-1.

The Hens return to action in the first round of the CAA tournament on Wednesday in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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