March 8, 2013
NORFOLK, VA--Josh Eldridge (Lorton, VA.) and Ben Slaton (Magnolia, MS.) hit back-to-back homers, keying an eight-run explosion as the Monarchs (7-4/1-0) of Old Dominion rallied to defeat Northeastern (7-5/0-1), 11-4 in the CAA opener for both teams Friday night at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
The Huskies took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh when Austin McGowan (Midlothian, VA.) led off with a double. After a pitching change, sophomore leftfielder Josh Eldridge slammed his second homer of the season to rightfieldputting the Monarchs ahead for good, 5-4. Junior rightfielder Ben Slaton, then followed with his first homer of the season to make it 6-4. Conner Myers ( Middletown, MD.), Austin McGowan all knocked in runs in that inning. Eldridge would later knock in another run for a total of three RBI in eighth.
ODU Junior righthander Dean Ali (Chesapeake, VA.) pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out six. Freshman lefthander Jake Josephs (Fairfax Station, VA.) came on in the seventh to pick up his first collegiate win, striking out two, and only giving up one hit.
Junior thirdbaseman Jordan Negrini had three hits on the night, while sophomore catcher Michael Perez (Fairfax Station, VA.) had two hits for ODU.
Northeastern was led by leftfielder Brad Burcroff with three hits and an RBI and catcher John Puttress had two hits with an RBI. Rightfielder Aaron Barbosa and centerfielder Connor Lyons also knocked in runs for the Huskies.
The two teams play again on Saturday at 3 p.m., then finish the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday's game will again be broadcast live on Star1310 AM with ODU Director of broadcasting Ted Alexander providing the play-by-play.
NU 012 100 000 =4-8-2ODU 011 100 80x=11-12-1
NU- Cook, McLean(4), Fitzgerald(7), Mulry(7), Goreham(8) and PuttressODU- Ali, Josephs(7) and Perez.
HR- ODU: Eldridge (2), Slaton(1)WP: Josephs (1-0) LP: Fitzgerald(0-2)