NORFOLK, Va. -- After trailing 6-4 in the seventh inning, the Old Dominion baseball team came back to defeat the Princeton Tigers, 7-6, on Tuesday night at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. The Monarchs improved to 12-4 overall, while the Tigers fell to 2-5 on the season.
ODU scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take the early 4-0 lead, but the Tigers put up one run in the second and fifth innings and then matched the Monarchs with four runs in the seventh inning to take the 6-4 lead. Old Dominion put together a clutch eighth inning to come back and secure with win with three runs scored. With two runners on base, Jason McMurray singled to left field, loading the bases for ODU. Nick Lustrino then reached on an error by the first baseman, scoring Kyle Beam to knot the game at 6-5. The Monarchs put another run on the board after Bryce Windham scored on a passed ball. Chris Livers came in as a pinch hitter for Justin Hayes, cracking a single to left field to score McMurray. Lustrino was caught in a pickle at third base (2-3-2-3-1) and Grey Finwood was struckout to end the inning, but not before ODU took the 7-6 lead.
In the top of the ninth, Grayson Bailey came in to pitch for Culver Lamb and forced a three up, three down inning. The first batter grounded out to Zach Rutherford, while the second was out at first after Finwood cleanly fielded the ball and touched the bag. Bailey ended the game in style, fanning the final batter.
ODU started the game off strong with four runs the in the first inning. Overall, the Monarchs are 7-0 when scoring in the opening inning and 9-2 when scoring first. With Nick Walker on second base and Beam on first, designated hitter Kurt Sinnen sent one into left field to score Walker and reach first base. McMurray then got a hit and advanced to second on a fielding error, giving ODU the 3-0 advantage after sending Sinnen and Beam home. The speedy McMurray earned the final run of the inning after scoring from second base after an error by the short stop.
With two outs on the board, Paul Tupper singled to center field, scoring Nick Hernandez to pull the Tigers within three runs (4-1) in the second inning. After a fielding error by Lustrino, Princeton had a runner on third, giving Asher Lee-Tyson the chance to score off a Billy Arendt single to right field (4-2). Joey Benitez, who was on the mound at the time, ended the Tigers’ threat by forcing a fly out and ground out for the last two batters.
The Tigers looked to have shifted the momentum in their favor with four runs in the seventh inning, but active bats by the Monarchs in the eighth paired with strong pitching by Bailey in the ninth inning proved to be enough to earn the win.
Lamb earned the win for the Monarchs after pitching 1.2 innings with three strikeouts. Bailey also earned his first save of the season, closing the game with one strikeout. Chris Bodurian suffered the loss for the Tigers, as he went 4.1 innings with three runs allowed. He also notched two walks and three strikeouts.
Princeton | 010 010 400 - 6113
ODU | 400 000 03X - 773
Princeton | Joseph Flynn, Chris Bodurian (4), Nick Brady (8)
ODU | Brett Smith, Joey Benitez (3), Thomas Busbice (6), Culver Lamb (7), Grayson Bailey (9)
Win | Culver Lamb
Loss | Chris Bodurian
Save | Grayson Bailey