Nov. 10—CUMBERLAND — Griffin Madden, the area's reigning baseball Player of the Year, made it official Wednesday, signing with James Madison to continue his athletic career.

Madden, a senior at Allegany High School, is expected to be a two-way player as a pitcher and infielder at first and third base.

"It's awesome, it's all I've wanted," Madden said of his signing. "I've loved (James Madison) ever since I verbally committed, and I'm excited to get on campus next fall.

"Thank you to my parents. Without them, it wouldn't be possible. Thank you to my coaches and all my teammates here at Allegany."

Madden will play for head coach Marlin Ikenberry in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Ikenberry signed a two-year contract extension after leading James Madison to a 27-26 record in 2022. In seven seasons, he has a 153-159 record.

This past year has been an exciting one for James Madison, as the Dukes saw a player taken in the first round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, and they moved up into a stronger baseball conference.

Chase DeLauter, a Hedgesville graduate, was selected 16th overall — the highest draft pick in program history.

James Madison also moved to the Sun Belt Conference from the Colonial Athletic Association, which the school had been a member of since 1979.

The Sun Belt was sixth in the country in RPI last year out of 31 Division I baseball conferences, ahead of the Big Ten and American Athletic Conference. Four Sun Belt teams advanced to the NCAA tournament: Texas State, Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana.

Madden committed to James Madison after taking a visit on Sept. 4, 2021. He received interest from nine Division I colleges, with James Madison and Lehigh having the most frequent contact.

"I really like the coaching staff," Madden said. "Especially coach (Jimmy) Jackson, I talked to him a lot during my recruiting process. Just fell in love with everything about it."

Madden was an integral part of Allegany's run to the Class 1A state semifinals and its 19-2 record last spring.

On the mound, Madden went 6-1 with a 1.23 earned-run average, allowing nine earned runs on 25 hits in 51 1/3 innings pitched with 97 strikeouts and 21 walks. He also threw a five-inning perfect game against rival Fort Hill.

Offensively, Madden batted .462 with six doubles, a triple, five home runs, 30 runs batted in and 31 runs scored.

Madden's Player of the Year honor was a record seventh for Allegany, putting him among the likes of Steve Milburn (1992), Mike Carter (1995), Aaron Laffey (2003), Bryce Nightengale (2014), Carson Imes (2016) and Cameron Bratton (2018).

"We're extremely happy for him, he's worked really hard," Allegany head coach Jon Irons said. "He puts the time in. He works his tail off in the offseason, and it's good to see it pay off for him.

"We look forward to a really good season this year, and hopefully bigger and better things for him at James Madison."

Madden believes his time at Allegany will put him in a prime position to succeed at the next level. Irons is assisted by Brandon Reed, Ryan Miller and Blake Geatz at Allegany.

"Allegany prepared me a lot," Madden said. "All the offseason training we did. Thank you to all the coaches. Especially coach Miller, pitching coach. They did it all for me."

That doesn't mean Madden is done working. He knows he still has room to improve before getting on campus.

"Mainly gaining weight, and improving velosity on my fastball," Madden said of where he wants to get better. "Getting strong all around. Being more prepared for when I get there freshman year."

Madden's baseball career began in Dapper Dan tee ball, where he was coached by Butch Haller. He played PVAA for the next eight seasons for John Gordon, Jeremy Kennell, Dave Madden (his father) and Mike Bratton.

He played for the Cresaptown Eagles in Hot Stove for Scott Bauer, who would later coach Madden during his sophomore year at Allegany.

In travel baseball, Madden played for the Keyser Outlaws 9U team for Matt Healy. He joined the Morgantown Redbirds for the 12U season, coached by Ernie Galusky.

Galusky is the uncle of Jimmy Galusky, who was an All-Big 12 performer at West Virginia University before being selected in the 20th round, 588 overall, of the 2018 MLB Draft.

Madden played for Flood City Elite in 16U and 17U after Ernie Galusky stepped away from coaching.

His travel baseball highlights include being named to the Perfect Game All-Tournament team for both pitching and hitting at the 2021 WWBA in Georgia and earning selections to the 2021 Prep Baseball Report Future Games, 2021 Big 26 Classic and the 2020-21 PBR Pennsylvania State Games.

Irons believes Madden's extensive baseball experience has prepared him for college.

"Griffin is one of those players that has so much baseball exposure that I feel like he's going to be ready," Irons said. "Obviously, it's not going to be easy, and he's going to have to work hard and compete down there to get a spot."

Before that, Madden and his Allegany teammates still have work left to do before next year. The Campers fell to eventual state champion Clear Spring, 1-0, in the state semifinals in 2022.

They have their sights set on bringing a baseball championship back to Allegany for the first time since 1990.

"Win a state championship is the big one, that's the goal," Madden said. "We got one game away, but we want to finish it off this year."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.