April 12, 2003
NORFOLK, VA. - Sophomore Justin Verlander (Goochland, VA.) and freshman Ricky Shefka (Kinston, NC.) went the distance to lead Old Dominion (12-19/3-4) to a CAA doubleheader sweep of the UNC Wilmington Seahawks (25-13/6-5), 6-2 in game one and 5-4 in game two Saturday at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
In game one, Verlander, a pre-season second team All-American fanned 12, walked one in picking up his fifth win of the year and first in the CAA. Junior Allen Strick (Glen Burnie, MD.) knocked in three runs for the Monarchs. He plated Brent Sollenberger (Chambersburg, PA.) in the first then again in the fourth along with Brandon LeNoir (Ocala, FL.).
The Seahawks got four doubles on the day off Verlander, including a run scoringdouble by Russ Simmerman which knocked in Jason Schindler after he doubled. Simmermanhad two doubles on the day. Neal Eichhorn had three hits, including a run scoring single in theseventh.
In game two, UNCW took a 2-0 lead as Brad Denson brought home Simmerman on a squeeze play. The second Seahawk run came in the fifth as Chip Grawey singled homeAaron Smith who led the inning off with a double.
The Monarchs then scored five two-out unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth,stringing together five straight hits. Evan Chipman (Raleigh, NC.) started the rally with atwo-run single, Michael Koppin followed with an RBI single, then Brent Sollenbergerdoubled in a run and Brandon LeNoir finished with an RBI single which scored pinchrunnerSteven Harris with the fifth run.
UNCW came back with two runs in the sixth as Russ Simmerman's fielderschoice scored Jamie Hemingway, and Brad Denson's groundout scored Matt Sutton.Ricky Shefka weathered the sixth, then retired UNCW in order in the seventh, includingtwo of his four strikeouts to win his fourth game of the year.Chip Grawey led UNCW with three hits in game two, while Jason Schindler and AaronSmith each had two hits. Brent Sollenberger and Allen Strick led ODU with two hitseach.
The two teams will play the third and final game of the series on Sunday, beginningat 2 p.m.
LINESCOREGame 1UNCW000 010 100=2-9-2ODU201 300 00x=6-8-0
UNCW-Mullis, Carter(7) and EichhornODU-Verlander and OehlerWP: Verlander(5-3) LP: Mullis (6-4)
Game 2UNCW010 012 0=4-9-1ODU000 050 x=5-10-0
UNCW- Overton, Hill(5), Cross(5) and Eichhorn, Murphy(5), McLean(6)ODU- Shefka and Oehler
WP: Shefka (4-5) LP: Overton(5-2)