April 5, 2009
HARRISONBURG, VA--The Old Dominion Monarchs (10-17/4-5) defeated James Madison (16-15/4-5), 6-3 Sunday afternoon behind the pitching of freshman righthander Ben Tomchick (Virginia Beach, Va.) and the hitting of Josh Wright, Joe Velleggia and Jake McAloose. ODU takes the three-game series from the Dukes.
ODU broke out on the scoreboard first. With Donnie Corsner(Virginia Beach, Va.) and Joe Velleggia (Monkton, MD.) on board, Josh Wright (Bridgewater, Va.) hit his fourth homerun of the season, and second of the series to give the Monarchs a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
The Dukes came back in the bottom of the second with three runs on a two run RBI double by McKinnon Langston and a sacrifice fly RBI by Bryan Lescanec.
ODU retook the lead in the third when Max Most (Port Washington, NY) scored from second on a JMU error on Jake McAloose's (Virginia Beach, Va.) hit. Gerard Hall later tried to steal home in that inning, but was called out at the plate. Joe Velleggia gave the Monarchs a 5-3 lead when he slammed a leadoff solo homer in the fourth. ODU added a run in the seventh when Donnie Corsner plated Gerard Hall with a sacrifice fly.
JMU threatened in the ninth with a one out double by Trevor Knight. With two outs the Dukes loaded the bases after Matt Townsend was hit with a pitch and Matt Browning singled. ODU reliever Robbie Watkins then fanned Jake Lowery to end the game and picked up his first save of the year.
Tomchick pitched 8.1 innings with six strikeouts, four walks and seven hits forhis second win of the season.
ODU hosts Elon Monday at 3 p.m., the takes on the Norfolk Tides (Orioles AAA) in the annual Bank of the Commonwealth Scholarship game at Harbor Park Tuesday at 7:15.
ODU 031 100 100 - 6-11-1
JMU 030 000 000 - 3-8-2
ODU Battery: Ben Tomchick, Robbie Watkins (9) and Edgar Hernandez
JMU Battery: Evan Scott, Justin Wood(4), Kevin Munson(7) and Jake Lowery
WP: Tomchick (2-3)
LP: Scott (2-3)
Save: Watkins(1)
HR: ODU- Velleggi (4) A, J.Wright(4)