NORFOLK, Va. - P.J. Higgins delivered a two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Old Dominion University baseball to a 7-6 victory over VMI Wednesday night at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
With the score tied at five entering the eighth, David Geary hit an RBI single to give VMI (4-8) a 6-5 lead. In the bottom half of the eighth for Old Dominion (10-7), Connor Myers and Mike Perez led off with singles while Zach Rutherford advanced both with a sacrifice but. Kurt Sinnen followed with an RBI ground out setting the stage for Higgins' double for the go-ahead run.
Rutherford worked around a two-out hit by pitch in the top of the ninth to earn the first win of his collegiate career.
VMI got on the board first on a bases loaded walk. ODU took its first lead of the game with four runs in the second inning. Rutherford cracked a two-run double down the right field line while Higgins singled to center to score more and give ODU a 4-1 lead.
The Keydets scored an unearned run in the third on a pair of ODU errors to make the score 4-2 while the Monarchs pushed the lead to 5-2 when Michael Perez drilled a double and scored on a wild pitch.
VMI battled back to make the score 5-4 in the fifth and tied the score with a run in the sixth.
Higgins had a pair of hits along with three RBI while Perez had two hits and two runs scored. Jordan Tarsovich was 3-for-4 with three runs scored for VMI.
Rutherford earned the win pitching 1.1 innings without giving up a hit. Nate Matheson started for ODU, going four innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs while striking out two with four walks.