Feb. 25, 2007
NORFOLK, VA -- In the third game of the weekend series against Rutgers University, sophomore pitcher Anthony Shawler (Chesapeake, VA) pitched a complete game one-hit shutout to put away the Scarlet Knights. It was a Rutgers team that had 25 hits and 17 runs in the first two games of the series, but could only muster one hit, a soft liner with two outs in the eighth inning, against Shawler. He improves to 3-0 on the year while ODU evens at 6-6 overall. Rutgers drops to 4-2 on the season. David Burns went 2-for-3 with both RBI's, including a monstrous home run over the right field wall in the seventh inning.
Shawler's one-hitter was punctuated with a three-strikeout ninth inning as he was near perfect. He had nine strikeouts, one walk, and just one Scarlet Knight advanced past second base in the game. The hit came off the bat of Tom Edwards, his fifth of the series. The key to Shawler's success was easy outs, as 23 of the 27 outs came either by strikeout or groundout, including a nifty 6-3 double play turned by Gerard Hall (Washington, DC).
Burns (Jacksonville, FL) blasted his second home run of the season in the seventh inning. It was his earlier hit, a line-drive single to center field that had the bigger impact, though, scoring Chris Keenan from third base. Keenan's run proved the difference in a game where both teams combined for just five hits.
Nick Erdman (Leola, PA) and Hall were the other Monarchs with one hit each.
For Rutgers, Steve Healing takes the loss as his record drops to 0-1 on the season. He pitched seven innings giving up just four hits and two runs, while striking out four. The 1-2-3 hitters for the Knights who combined for 12 hits the first two games were held in check to go 0-for-11 with four strikeouts.
ODU is set to play Radford on Wednesday and hosts Iona for a four-game set this weekend.
Score by Innings R H E-------------------------------------------Rutgers............. 000 000 000 - 0 1 0Old Dominion Univ... 000 100 10X - 2 4 2-------------------------------------------
WP: Anthony Shawler (3-0)LP: Steve Healing (0-1)
HR: David BurnsRBI: David Burns (2)SB: Chris Keenan, Nick Erdman