WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington used a 14-run fifth inning on its way to a 23-4 win over James Madison as the Seahawks clinched the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title on Sunday at Long Field. The Seahawks will be the top seed at the CAA Tournament later this month.

The 29th-ranked Seahawks (39-11-1, 23-3-1 CAA) set a CAA regular season record with their 23rd conference win of the season. The Dukes, who were swept at home for the first time this season, saw their record fall to 31-16 and 18-8 in the league. The title was the Seahawks’ third outright and fourth overall.

Senior Larry Salefsky (3-1) earned the win in relief of sophomore starter Seth Frankoff. Salefsky allowed one run in 1 1/3 innings and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. Four relievers combined to hold JMU to four hits and a run over the final 4 1/3 innings.

Junior Kurt Houck (5-2) was saddled with the loss for the Dukes. It was his first loss since Feb. 23, when he dropped a decision to Binghamton in the season opener. Houck allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits in four innings.

Leading the high-powered UNCW lineup was senior Mark Carver, who finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four driven in. Carver set UNCW’s single season run batted in record with a 2-run double in that big 14-run inning. Seniors Nate Hall and Daniel Hargrave and freshman Cody Stanley each had two hits and drove in four runs. Freshman Alex Hill scored a career-high five runs, yet didn’t record a single official at bat, drawing four walks and being hit by a pitch in the leadoff spot in the lineup.

Junior Alex Foltz paced the JMU order with three hits at the top. Sophomore Steven Caseres collected two hits and knocked in two runs.

UNCW manufactured a run in the top of the first to take the early lead. Hill drew a walk and Hargrave, who tied a school-record with three sacrifice bunts, moved him up with a sacrifice bunt. Hill moved to third on a ground out and Carver brought him in with a single through the right side. The RBI by Carver tied the single season school record of 73 set by Matt Poulk in 2005.

The Dukes answered with a run on two hits in their half of the first to even the game. Senior Joe Lake walked with one out and junior Brett Sellers followed with an infield hit. Caseres, who homered twice on Friday, doubled down the leftfield line to score Lake and move Sellers to third. Frankoff settled down and retired the next two batters with a strikeout and an inning-ending ground out.

In the Seahawk third, Hill was hit by a pitch leading off and moved to second on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff. Hargrave moved Hill to third with a sac bunt and senior Jason Appel (2-4, 2 RBI) laced a RBI single into left center for a 2-1 lead.

The Dukes took the lead, 3-2, in the fourth with a 2-run, 2-out rally. With two out and a man on first, Frankoff walked junior Brett Garner and David Herbek, a freshman, fisted a single to left to score freshman McKinnon Langston, who singled on the first pitch he saw leading off the frame. Foltz followed with a double to score Garner with the go-ahead run.

The Seahawks plated a school-record 14 runs in the fifth to take a commanding 16-3 lead. Eleven Seahawks made their way to the plate before the Dukes could record an out. Highlighting the inning was Stanley, who drove in four runs, including three on his fifth homer of the season.

Caseres led off the bottom of the fifth with his 18th homer of the season to make it 16-4.

Hill drew his fourth walk of the game and Hargrave drilled a 2-run shot to left to make it 18-4.

Nate Hall hit a grand slam in the eighth and Hargrave added a RBI double in the ninth to close out the scoring.

The Seahawks close out their non-conference slate on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. start at East Carolina.

Notes: UNCW’s 23 runs were the most scored since a 22-8 drubbing of Hofstra in 2005 ... The previous record for runs in an inning was 13 against North Carolina Wesleyan in 1965 ... 17 batters in the fifth were also a school record topping the previous mark of 16, also set against NC Wesleyan in 1965 ... 39 wins in the regular season ties the 2005 club’s school record ... Daniel Hargrave needs two homers to tie Bryan Britt’s career record of 40 home runs ... This was UNCW’s first sweep of JMU in Harrisonburg.