HARRISONBURG — The more chances James Madison gave itself, the more those opportunities went to waste.

“We were a big hit away from blowing it open,” Dukes skipper Marlin Ikenberry said after sixth-seeded JMU’s 2-1 loss to No. 3-seed William & Mary in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament at Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday.

Failures came in different ways for Madison, which was playing in its first CAA tournament game since 2016.

Cleanup hitter Brady Harju grounded out with a runner on third to end the game. Conor Hartigan rolled into a double play following Matt Dipasupil’s single to start the eighth, and later that inning, Michael Morgan’s pinch-hit single to advance David Willis to third didn’t matter when Travis Reifsnider was frozen, looking at strike three on the inside corner of the plate.

“We just needed a big hit with two outs,” Ikenberry said. “It’s something we’ve talked a lot about, that two-out, two-strike hits are what wins ball games and we didn’t get ‘em tonight.”

In total, the Dukes (31-24) left 12 runners on base as Tribe (31-20) pitchers evaded potential disaster frame after frame. Only once were William & Mary pitchers able to retire JMU in order. Tribe starter Wade Strain (6-4) gave up eight hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings, but stranded nine runners to outduel Madison’s Kevin Kelly (7-7).

“Wade’s tough,” W&M coach Brian Murphy said. “He’s got a lot of angle, being 6-foot-5, and gets the ball to move good and has a good cutter that can get hitters off balance.”

Kelly threw six innings, struck out six and gave up only five hits, but his one mistake – he said he left the pitch up in the zone – landed on the wrong side of the fence in straightaway center as W&M’s Brandon Raquet pulverized a 3-2 pitch for a two-run homer.

“He put a good swing on it,” Kelly said. “I left it up and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Kelly, who faced the minimum through the first three innings, said he had all his pitches working well, felt good on the mound and just focused on doing his job despite the offense’s struggle to support him.

JMU’s lone run came in the top half of the fourth when Hartigan’s sac fly scored Kyle Novak, who was hit by a pitch to open the inning.

“You just have to flush it and keep moving,” Kelly said. “You can’t worry about it when you’re pitching. You can’t care what your team is doing on offense and you just have to try to shut the other team out.”

Ikenberry said he liked how Kelly and reliever Shelton Perkins pitched Wednesday. Perkins worked a perfect seventh and eighth to follow Kelly.

The loss sends the Dukes into an elimination game at 11 a.m. today, against fourth-seeded Northeastern, which got beat in 8-6 an 11-inning contest by No. 5-seed UNC Wilmington earlier Wednesday.

Right-hander Nick Stewart will pitch for Madison.

“I told ‘em, ‘If we lose, our season is over,’” Ikenberry said. “I didn’t try to sugarcoat it.”

Junior shortstop Fox Semones said the Dukes can bounce back to stay alive.

“We’re built for that,” Semones said, “especially with the pitching we have. We have the deepest bullpen in the CAA and I think we’re ready to roll. And it’ll be six games if we go for it all, so I think we’ve got all the fight and pitching we need to go through.”

William & Mary will face No. 2-seed College of Charleston at 7 p.m.