April 26, 2002
NORFOLK, VA. - Old Dominion University freshman righthander, JustinVerlander (Goochland, Va.) fanned 15 batters to tie an ODU individual strikeoutrecord as the Monarchs defeated Drexel, 6-1 in a CAA contest. ODU is now 19-22overall and 3-9 in the CAA, while Drexel is 16-28 overall and 2-11 in the CAA.
The 6-4 Verlander walked only two batters and scattered four hits. The lonerun on a solo shot to left field by Rob Martine in the second inning. Verlander struckout the side twice and didn't issue his two walks until the eighth inning. It is thethird time this year he has fanned ten or more. He fanned 12 against Virginia Techand 11 against Princeton.
After Drexel led, 1-0, ODU tied the game in the bottom of the second on arun scoring single by John Oehler (Audubon, NJ.), which plated Mike Croley (Jupiter,Fl.). In the fourth Croley singled home Kevin Snapp (Yorba Linda, CA.), whileJess Schoendienst (Belcamp, MD.) scored in the fifth on Brent Sollenberger's (Chambersburg, Pa.) groundout.
ODU added three runs in the seventh on a solo homer by Croley, and RBIsingles by Joe Moore (Woodbridge, VA.) and Ryan Harvey (Riverside, CA.).
Verlander joins former major leaguer, and All-American Kevin Bearse ('87)and John Smith('93) who fanned 15 in a game at ODU. Smith did it at East Carolina in 1992, while Bearse, the Sun Belt Conference all-time strikeout leader did it against Jacksonville and Norfolk State in 1984. Both were lefthanders. Verlander, who came into the game ranked 19th nationally in earned run average now has an ERA of 1.81.The overall school record is 17 strikeouts set by three pitchers at Maryland -EasternShore (Kirk Demyan fanned 11, Sean Hennessy 3, Wayne Gomes 3) in 1993.
LINESCORE
Drexel 010 000 000=1-4-0
ODU 010 110 30x=6-9-1
Drexel Battery: Bruce Boehm, Shane Carroll(7) and Rob MartineODU Battery: Justin Verlander and John Oehler
WP:Verlander 5-5 LP:Boehm(4-5)
Homeruns: Drexel- Marine(2) ODU-Croley(1)