MONROE, La. - Old Dominion baseball led 6-4 through seven innings, but a three-run bottom of the eighth helped ULM rally for a 7-6 final on Friday night at Lou St. Amant Field.
Ethan Hubbell struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, but got into trouble when he went back out in the eighth. ULM’s Barham White led off the frame with a single to center field, then moved up to second on a wild pitch as Jake Haggard went down swinging. Hubbell then plunked Major Brignon before striking out Tony Lindwedel, but a walk loaded the bases for the Warhawks (21-21, 7-12 Sun Belt). Kade Dupont then doubled down the left-field line, driving in three runs to give the hosts the lead.
ODU couldn’t get a baserunner in the ninth as the Monarchs went down in order to end the game. Old Dominion falls to 13-25 overall and 8-11 in the Sun Belt with the loss.
Hubbell (0-2) allowed three runs on two hits and three walks. He recorded five strikeouts in two complete innings out of the pen. Ben Moore held the Warhawks to one run on three hits and three walks while striking out two batters in a 4.2-inning start.
Kainen Jorge (2-for-4) doubled, scored a run and also walked once while Luke Waters (1-for-4) drove in two runs and came around once. Zach Leite went 1-for-3 with a run, a walk, and one RBI, Brody Connors also finished 1-for-3 with one base on balls, and Evan Holman was 0-for-2 but collected an RBI. The team was also 4-for-4 on stolen-base attempts as Jorge, Connors, TJ Aiken, and Maverick Stallings all swiped a bag.
The Monarchs took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Jorge and Scotty Young drew a couple of one-out walks, then moved into scoring position on a passed ball. After Aiken went down swinging and Leite walked to load the bases, Waters singled through the left side to bring in Jorge and Young. Connors walked to load the bases again, and Stallings then hit a ground ball towards the ULM second baseman. He couldn’t field the ball cleanly though and the error allowed Waters and Leite to score.
ULM loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fifth and broke up the shutout as Brignon tagged up on a Dupont sacrifice fly to right field. ODU got the run back in the sixth. Stallings reached on a throwing error, stole second, and advanced to third on a Kyle Edwards fly out to right. Holman then laid down a sacrifice bunt, plating Stallings and putting the Monarchs back up by four, 5-1.
The Warhawks strung together four hits in the bottom of the sixth, three of them doubles, to trim the ODU lead to 6-4. The Monarchs answered with one run in the seventh as Aiken singled to right, stole second, and raced home on a Leite hit back up the middle.
The Monarchs combined to hit 7-for-33 (.212) in the game, to include 2-for-14 (.143) with runners on and 2-for-10 (.200) with runners in scoring position.
ODU will look to even the series when the teams return for a 3 p.m. ET game on Saturday.