April 9, 2004
NORFOLK, VA-Junior righthander Justin Verlander (Goochland, VA.) fanned 16 batters and scattered three hits to lead Old Dominion (13-17/3-4) to a 3-0 Colonial Athletic Association victory over Virginia Commonwealth (19-13/5-2) and his team USAroommate Justin Orenduff. A crowd of 1,318, the third largest in ODU/Bud MethenyBaseball Complex history was on hand for the 1:53 contest between two of the nation'spremier collegiate pitchers.
Verlander struckout the side twice, as did VCU's Orenduff who finished with11 strikeouts. Orenduff walked two and Verlander walked three batters. The 16 strikeouts for Verlander who is already ODU's and the CAA's all-time strikeout kingwas one shy of his career mark of 17 which he did as a freshman against James Madison.Verlander now has 366 career strikeouts, and 90 strikeouts in 63 innings thus farthis season.
In the second inning Derek James singled with one out. After Bryan Cipolla(Plainview, NY.) walked, Allen Strick (Glen Burnie, MD.) singled home James for ODU's first run. In the third, Keith Hahn (Valley Stream, NY.) led off with a single. He stole second and came home on Brandon Carter's single. ODU's third and final run came in the fifth. Hahn again led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Evan Chipman (Raleigh, NC.), then scored on Steven Harris'(Virginia Veach, VA.) single.
The two largest crowds in school history was the April 25, 1984 dedication game againstVirginia Tech (2125) and the Sun Belt Conference final against Western Kentucky on May14, 1985 (1512).
VCU's three hits came from Scott Sizemore in the first, Jeff Parrish in thesecond, and Anthony Granato in the fourth. The same two teams will play again on Saturday at 5 p.m.
LINESCOREVCU 000 000 000 = 0-3-0ODU 011 010 00x =3-7-0
WP: Verlander 4-3 LP: Orenduff(2-4)