BOWLING GREEN, KY—ODU senior righthander Greg Tomchick (Virginia Beach, Va.) and reliever Thomas Busbice combined for a one-hitter to help lead the Monarchs to a 3-1 Conference USA victory over Western Kentucky in game one of a doubleheader Saturday. WKU won the nightcap 6-3. ODU is now 8-6 overall and 1-1 in C-USA.
Monarch seniors had nine of ODU’s 11 hits on the day. Leftfielder Josh Eldridge (Lorton, VA.) had four, firstbaseman Taylor Ostrich (Carroll, IA) three and catcher Mike Perez (Fairfax Station, VA.) had two hits on the day. All three knocked in a run as well.
Tomchick took a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning when Anderson Miller homered with one out. Tomchick fanned a career high nine batters with just one walk, while Busbice pitched the final
two innings with no hits, and two strikeouts.
Ostrich put ODU on the scoreboard in the first inning with a single to bring home P.J. Higgins. In the fourth inning Eldridge doubled home Ostrich and the Monarchs third and final run came in the fifth inning when Perez slammed a solo homer to leftcenter.
It was the first time the two schools have played since the 1991 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. ODU’s head coach Chris Finwood was WKU’s skipper form 2006-11
IN GAME TWO: WKU’s Cody Wofford tripled home two runs in the second inning and Anderson Miller homer in the fourth, his second homer of the day (He hit a solo in game one). Miller led WKU with three hits on the night.
ODU got on the board with three runs in the seventh. Connor Myers doubled down the left field line to plate Jason McMurray and Josh Eldridge. Nick Lustrino then singled home Myers to make it 6-3.
Josh Bartley (3-1) picked up the win with Ben Morrison getting his fourth save of the season for WKU. The two will play on Sunday at 1 p.m.(ET)
ODU 100 110 000=3-11-0
WKU 000 000 100=1-1-0
ODU – G. Tomchich, Busbice(8) and Perez
WKU – J.Harman, B.Pearson(7) and Messex
WP: Tomchick (2-1) LP: Harman (1-1) Save: Busbice (2) HR: ODU-Perez (1) WKU-Miller (4)
GAME 2
ODU 000 000 300 = 3-7-0
WKU 121 200 00x =6-15-1
ODU- J. Benitez, V.Diaz(3), Koenig(4), Josephs (6) and Higgins
WKU-J.Bartley,Glasscock (8) Morrison and Hogan
WP: Josh Bartley (3-1) LP: Joey Benitez(0-1) Save: Ben Morrison(4)
HR-WKU-Miller (5)