Dukes Split Opening DH at Rockingham

WENTWORTH, NC - The RCSJ-Cumberland Dukes entered the opening weekend of the 2026 season with much promise.  Head Coach, Joey Gorman, reached the Region XIX Final Four in just his second season at the helm and now is looking to bringing the Dukes back to prominence.

After an energetic top of the first that saw two Dukes baserunners hit by groundballs resulting in outs, host Rockingham briefly stemmed the tide with a home run in the bottom of the first against starter Ryan Beebe.  The Dukes own the middle innings as 2025 1st Team All-Region infielder, Cole Shover, singled to score Zach Braig who stole second on the previous pitch.  Kory Jenkins would follow with his first hit of the season with a single to left.  Rob LaGuarina would deliver the first blow of the game with a deep shot to right center to score Shover and Jenkins for a 2-RBI double.  Chase Montgomery would shoot a single down the left field line to score LaGuarina and bring the Dukes lead to 4-1 after 3.  In the 5th, Kory Jenkins would tally a 2-out triple to right field and LaGuarina would follow with his 3rd RBI of the game with a single to score Jenkins.

The Eagles would put a scare into Cumberland scoring 3 runs in the 6th inning to cut the Dukes lead to 1 heading into the 7th.  Dalton Rdsenski put out the fire to end the threat with a fly out to Nolan Murawski in left to clinch the victory.

In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Dukes could not muster any momentum against Rockingham start, Austin Patterson.  Dukes would fall 6-0, with Otley Makosky and Lucas D'Agostino making their first collegiate appearances on the mound for the Dukes combining for 5 strikeouts in 5 innings.