April 13, 2002
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- UNC Wilmington erupted for seven unearned runs inthe bottom of the fourth inning en route to a 9-0 baseball rout of OldDominion in the second game of a three-game Colonial Athletic Associationweekend series with the Monarchs Saturday night at Brooks Field.
UNCW improved to 24-9 overall and 7-1 in the CAA with its sixthstraight win over ODU and its ninth victory in the last 11 games. ODUdipped to 16-17 and 1-6 in the league.
Junior righthander Jake Mullis (6-2) worked 6 1/3 innings, holding theMonarchs scoreless on four hits, walking three and fanning three batters.Freshman reliever Ronald Hill hurled the final 2 2/3 innings, giving twohits and striking out one.
Six players had two hits each to lead UNCW's 13-hit attack. MattWright went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in and a stolen base, Zach Harriswent 2-for-5 with one RBI, David McKenna went 2-for-4 and scored twice,Chip Grawey went 2-for-4, Eric Mitchell went 2-for-5 with two singles andJamie Hemingway went 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run.
Junior outfielder Brent Sollenberger went 3-for-4 with three singlesfor the Monarchs, who have been held to just eight hits in the first twogames in the series.
ODU starter Ryan Williams (2-5) took the loss after pitching 3 2/3innings, allowing seven unearned runs on eight hits, walking three andstriking out two.
After the two clubs went scoreless through the first three innings,the Seahawks took advantage of a critical error by Williams to blow thegame open with a seven spot with two outs in the fourth. Pete Grimm openedthe inning by reaching first when Williams let the Seahawk outfielder'sground ball go between his legs. When it was all over, UNCW had sent 11batters to the plate, lacing six consecutive hits and racking up sevenruns. Wright's two-run single into center highlighted the barrage.
The Seahawks picked up single runs in the seventh and eighth inningsto complete the scoring. In the seventh, McKenna slammed his second homerun of the season, a towering shot over the leftfield wall, to increase thescore to 8-0, and Mitchell's RBI single plated Hemingway in the eighth toend the romp at 9-0.
Mullis nearly lost his shutout in the top of the seventh when KevinSnapp doubled off the leftfield wall and John Oehler drew a one-out walk.But Hill spelled Mullis and induced an inning-ending double play ball fromJared Musolf to kill the rally. It was one of three double plays on thenight for the Seahawks, who played error-free ball.
The Seahawks and Monarchs wrap up the three-game series on Sunday at 2p.m. Junior righthander Chris Coughlin of UNCW will face freshman rightyJames Burok of ODU.