HARRISONBURG — There was no conversation or never-ending tutorial needed.

James Madison’s baseball staff believed its freshman third baseman Trevon Dabney could handle hitting leadoff.

“Being a leadoff hitter is tough, especially when you’re doing it for the first time as a freshman,” Dukes assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Alex Guerra said.

JMU moved Dabney from the middle of the lineup to the top of it on March 10 against High Point and he hasn’t hit anywhere else since.

The first-year standout from Douglassville, Pa., is Madison’s catalyst and no ordinary freshman, according to Guerra.

Dabney leads JMU in batting (.321), runs (35), walks (23), on-base percentage (.475), slugging (.540) and total bases (74) and he’s also tied for the most home runs (six) on the squad. And in the majority of those categories, he sits in the top 10 of the Colonial Athletic Association as the favorite for the conference’s Rookie of the Year honor.

“The first at-bat is always the hardest, especially when you’re away because it’s the first at-bat of the game,” Dabney said. “The umpire is trying to figure out his strike zone. The pitcher is trying to figure out what pitches he has and what pitches he’s going to throw to you. It’s really a battle you’re going to have to have with the pitcher, so you have to have a tough mentality when you’re in the leadoff spot.”

Guerra said that’s what him and Dukes skipper Marlin Ikenberry have seen from Dabney through the few months of his college career.

“This just goes to the type of kid that he is,” Guerra said. “From the standpoint of how he is mentally, but he’s led off and we threw it on him. We didn’t bring him into the office and give him this big, long spiel to try to prepare him. It was, ‘Hey man. You’re leading off today. You saw the lineup.’

“And mentally he’s been able to handle that because he doesn’t think it’s a big deal. He doesn’t change the way he is. He doesn’t change the type of hitter he is. He’s had tremendous at-bats.”

Dabney said prior to the season he thought he’d have a chance to play in his first spring with the team, but didn’t know he’d find the kind of success he’s had so far in Harrisonburg. The University of Delaware and Division II Shippensburg were the only other schools to offer Dabney out of Berks Catholic High School.

Both Dabney and Guerra said JMU found him because Dabney came to a camp the program was hosting.

“You’re talking about a kid that was a three-sport athlete,” Guerra said of Dabney. “When it was football season, he played football. When it was basketball season, he played basketball. He didn’t do a lot of the Perfect Game showcases or national showcases that are around. He played on a travel ball team that was really thrown together.

“… But he came to our team camp and he performed really well. He played in the middle of the field, swung the bat really well and it was just one of those things that was a no-brainer for us to try to grab this kid. Recruiting nowadays, everything is happening a lot quicker. You’re talking about programs that are recruiting freshmen and sophomores in high school, and there’s just so many kids that blossom late. Or in Tre’s situation, is a three-sport athlete, that doesn’t do the big-time travel ball circuit all the time. But we’re glad it worked out, I can tell you that. We got very lucky.”

Dabney said, “I only had the two offers at the time, so I was just coming to play baseball. And I did really well throughout the whole weekend, and Ike talked to me after and said he really wanted me.”

Dabney called the first homer he hit in college “surreal” considering it came on the road against ACC power and nationally-ranked Louisville.

He’s had nine multi-hit games entering the start of today’s CAA series against Towson, including a three-hit performance to help JMU take the opening contest of a three-game series the Dukes would win at Cal State Fullerton.

But he said the moment he knew he could thrive at JMU came in the team’s season-opening victory over Norfolk State.

“First play of the game,” Dabney said, “it was a ground ball hit right to me and I made the play. After that I was like, ‘It’s just like fielding a regular ground ball and it doesn’t matter what level you’re at.’”

Guerra said this season is likely just the start of a great career for Dabney.

“He’s got a skill set that’s as good as any freshman I’ve been around,” Guerra said. “The physicality, the speed, the power, the arm strength. He’s got a chance, from our coaching staff’s standpoint, to be one of the most special players we’ve ever coached.”