Lorton Athlete on JMU Baseball Team

Sophomore outfielder Joe Townsend, who graduated from South County High School, returns to the NCAA Division I James Madison University Dukes baseball team this spring for his second season with the Dukes. In his rookie season, Townsend hit a home run in his first collegiate game against Bucknell.

While at South County, he was a 2010 Mingo Bay Classic Individual Tournament champion, and an American Legion District 17 champion. Townsend’s team qualified for the Northern Region Tournament in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and was a 2009 NABF 17U World Series champion. In that same tournament, Townsend was a World Series Batting champion and member of the All-Tournament Team. He was also named Under Armour’s Preseason All-American. Townsend was named an American Legion District 17 All-Star as a senior. Townsend’s older brother, Matt Townsend, was an outfielder at JMU (2006-2010). 

The James Madison University Dukes placed first in the CAA in 2011 with an overall record of 42-19 and a league mark of 21-9. They won the CAA Championship in Wilmington, N.C., the program’s second league title, and followed the win with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional last June. It was the program’s best postseason finish since a 1983 trip to the College World Series in Omaha.

The Dukes were picked as the league’s 2012 preseason favorite for the fourth consecutive year and are receiving votes in multiple preseason top 25 polls.