He’s hit safely through the first seven games of his college career, and followed up Friday evening’s walk-off RBI single with a leadoff homer in his next at bat on Saturday and a walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning on Sunday.

Chase DeLauter said he had offers from West Virginia and Pittsburgh, so he could’ve played in the Big 12 or in the Atlantic Coast Conference, two of the best baseball leagues nationally.

Instead, the Martinsburg, W.Va., native opted for James Madison.

“With West Virginia, it was only after I got [West Virginia High School] Player of the Year,” DeLauter said, “and they only wanted me to hit. So it wasn’t the right fit for me whereas [JMU] stuck with me the whole time, even when I wasn’t hitting and I wasn’t throwing hard.”

The opportunity to play the field, hit and pitch was one DeLauter didn’t want to pass on, he said.

And in the infancy of his time with the Dukes, he’s only proved capable of handling all of his different roles. He is the team’s everyday leadoff hitter, patrols left field for mid-week contests, Fridays and Saturdays, and starts on the mound each Sunday.

At the plate, he leads JMU with a .452 average, 14 hits and 11 RBIs. As a pitcher, he tossed four innings of two-run ball in Sunday’s series-sweeping victory over Quinnipiac.

“All pitchers think they can hit,” fifth-year JMU skipper Marlin Ikenberry said with a grin, “and can they do that or not is the question. But with Chase it was really interesting.

“Chase kind of evolved. We got him to commit more to us as a pitcher and then he grew and his offense kind of evolved as he got older.”

DeLauter said he matured into a better hitter – from the 5-foot-8 soft-tossing southpaw who initially pledged to JMU prior to his junior season, into the 6-foot-2 powerful two-way standout on the Dukes’ roster now.

As a senior for Hedgesville High School, DeLauter was named Gatorade West Virginia Player of the Year for his 8-1 mark and 0.79 ERA to go along with a .615 batting average, six home runs and 47 RBIs.

“I guess the hitting kind of came with size and getting stronger,” DeLauter said.

The intelligence for DeLauter to thrive in the box is there, too, according to Ikenberry.

DeLauter’s walk-off single to send Nick Zona home for the game-winning run in the 10th inning against Quinnipiac on Friday came against the same pitcher, Bobcats reliever Connor Mahoney, who struck out DeLauter looking in his previous plate appearance during the eighth inning.

“I thought that was one of the worst at-bats I’d ever seen him have,” Ikenberry said. “But as we talk about, the fourth and fifth at-bats are probably the most important and when you could have a game winner.”

So DeLauter adjusted and punched the same pitch that retired him earlier through the hole vacated by the shortstop.

DeLauter said: “I knew [Mahoney] was going to throw me a curveball I could hit. He got me in the first at-bat and I knew he was going to comeback with it. I was up in a 2-1 count, so I knew he was going to throw one and he left it a little [in the] middle of the plate, so I knew that was probably going to be the best pitch I’d get to hit.”

His double to send Zona home in Sunday’s game gave JMU another walk-off victory.

Perhaps the most challenging task for Ikenberry this season will be recognizing when to leave DeLauter off the field, so the freshman can be productive throughout his first campaign.

Ikenberry said it’s something him and his coaching staff have discussed.

“Chase is a very mature freshman,” Ikenberry said. “And that was something we kind of did in the fall with him. We gave him days off here and there, and managed his workload. That’s really important, especially as a freshman.

“He’s a physical kid, loves to play, loves to compete and that’ll be our job as coaches. We’ll call it the push-and-pull philosophy. … There are going to be days where he’ll want to go and we say no. And then there’s going to be days where he wants to go and we’ll say yes.”

For now, though, DeLauter is enjoying the success of his young tenure in Harrisonburg and is happy to be helping JMU in all facets of the game.

“That was definitely the goal for me,” he said. “And it was one of the main reasons why I picked this school. It was so I could do both.”

James Madison fended off Quinnipiac in Sunday’s series finale for a 12-11 win in walk-off fashion at Veterans Memorial Park when DeLauter’s double scored Zona.

Quinnipiac (0-6) rallied from a deficit as large as eight runs to force the Dukes (4-3) to win in their last turn at bat.

Zona finished the game 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Senior second baseman Fox Semones was 3-for-4 and hit a home run.

On Saturday, Turner Ashby product Justin Showalter threw a complete-game one-hitter to lift JMU to a 7-0 win over the Bobcats.