May 7, 2011
NEWARK, DE--ODU Freshman designated hitter Joey Burney (Gloucester, VA.) hit a three-run homer and junior righthander Ben Tomchick along with relievers Dean Ali (Chesapeake, VA.) and Ben Verlander (Maidens, VA.) held Delaware to just two runs in the Monarchs 6-2 victory Saturday afternoon.
ODU remains in first place of the CAA with a 23-20 overall record and 15-8 CAA mark. Delaware drops to 26-21 overall and 15-11 in the CAA. ODU will also win its seventh straight CAA series.
ODU got on the board first with an RBI single by junior firstbaseman Chris Baker (Chesapeake, VA.) which plated second baseman Brandon Shelton (Chesapeake, VA.) in the first inning.
In the third inning Baker doubled home Brent Frazier (Fairfax Station, VA.) and then freshman Joey Burney(Gloucester, VA.) slammed a three-run homer later in the inning with Shawn Sizemore (Newport News, VA.) and Baker aboard. It was Burney's seventh homer of the season.
In the fourth inning shortstop Josh Wright (Bridgewater, VA. ) singled home Brent Frazier to give the Monarchs a 6-0 lead.
Delaware got on the board in the sixth when Steve Ulaky doubled and later scored on a groundout by Chris Branigan. In the bottom of the ninth Branigan belted his second homer of the season.
Tomchick pitched six innings allowing just one walk, six hits and striking out four. Dean Ali (Chesapeake, VA.) pitched two scoreless innings and Verlander pitched the ninth. Tomchick improves his record to 7-4 with a 2.86 ERA.
Baker led ODU with three hits and two runs batted in, while Burney had two hits as did Nathan Hartman (Orlando, FL.) and Josh Wright. Wright is now hitting .361 with a .728 slugging percentage. DJ Long and Nick Ferdinand each had two hits for Delaware.
The third and final game of the series is Sunday at 1 p.m.
ODU 104 100 000=6-13-0DEL 000 001 001-2-9-1
ODU Battery:Tomchick , Ali (7), Verlnder(9) and HernandezDEL: Battery: Gatto , Soren (3), Pearson (4) and MascoeHR: ODU_Burney(7) UD-Brannigan (2)WP : Tomchick (7-4) LP: Gatta(1-4)