HARRISONBURG — No one is running from the expectation.

James Madison baseball doesn’t want to miss the party at its own place again.

“We need to be in that tournament and play extremely well,” Dukes athletic director Jeff Bourne said. “Baseball in this part of the country, this part of the state, with our history and our culture, we need to do well.”

Last season, JMU finished 26-26 overall marking the school’s best finish since 2011, but the program missed out on the Colonial Athletic Association tournament for the second straight year under skipper Marlin Ikenberry and third time in four seasons overall.

The event was held at Veterans Memorial Park, the Dukes’ home venue, in 2018 and will be held there again this season.

“One of the neat things about this group is that they’re hungry,” said Ikenberry, who enters his fourth season at the helm. “It’s a special group and I say that all the time. They work hard together. They’ve set the expectations and with where we’re at talent wise, and pitching staff wise, I feel very good about the season.”

When asked if he felt his team needed to reach the CAA tournament come May, Ikenberry answered, “absolutely.”

The top six in the conference standings qualify for the tournament. League coaches have tabbed JMU to finish sixth while D1Baseball.com and Baseball America projects the Dukes to finish fifth in the CAA this season.

JMU opens the season Friday in Harrisonburg with the start of a three-game set against Norfolk State and will play 23 non-conference contests, including three-game series at No. 4 Louisville and at No. 25 Cal State Fullerton, before its CAA schedule begins on March 22.

“Our goal this year is to win the CAA championship and go to a regional,” junior infielder Fox Semones said.

Semones and catcher-utility man Michael Morgan, a sophomore, said they believe the team can get there because of their pitching staff led by right-handers junior Kevin Kelly and sophomore Nick Stewart. The Dukes boasted a 3.91 team earned-run average last year.

“It is better than the one last year,” Ikenberry said of his pitching staff. “And in my 20 years of coaching, I’ve got to put it up as probably the best one I’ve ever been around. I don’t like to say that this early because you never know what can happen, but it’s just the way they throw strikes, compete and they have plus-plus stuff.

“We’re going to give up runs and we’ll have games where we have the big innings, but this pitching staff is deep.”

Senior Dan Goggin, senior Matt Marsili, junior Brett Ayer, junior Shelton Perkins, sophomore Michael Bechtold and sophomore Nick Robertson all have experience on the mound, too, as does Turner Ashby graduate Justin Showalter, who Ikenberry said will likely factor in as a mid-week starter this season.

“I think we have a good chance of winning the CAA, winning a CAA championship with our pitching,” Kelly said. “And I think our offense is going to be better than last year, so I think we’ll win a lot more games and push ourselves into that next tier of teams.”

Bourne said he’s ready to see what this group is capable of.

“This is our year,” Bourne said. “There’s no reason why men’s baseball can’t be right there as successful as women’s softball, so we have high expectations and aspirations for our program, but I have them for all of them, so baseball is no different.

“I’m excited about where they’re going to go and the potential for what they could do this year. Ike’s put together a good team and he’s got a great group of young men. This year is a big year for us.”