NORFOLK, Va. -- Behind a career-high six RBIs from Nick Walker, the Old Dominion Baseball Monarchs cruised to a 10-4 victory in game two against Princeton on a warm sunny afternoon at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. ODU moved to 13-4 after the win, while the Tigers fell to 2-6.
Walker finished the day 3-for-4 with six RBIs, just four off the school record of 10 set by Matt Quatraro at C.W. Post on April 11, 1994. Zach Rutherford also had a day at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI. Justin Hayes was a strong for ODU in the nine hole, as he went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. In total, eight of nine ODU bats registered at least one hit on the day. The Monarchs finished the day 10-for-16 with two outs and 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Victor Diaz earned the win for the Monarchs after pitching the first five innings and allowing just two hits. He also fanned six batters, tying his career high that he set in a complete win over Florida Atlantic in 2014. The pitching staff as a whole fanned 10 batters. Tanner Kliewer was hit with the loss, finishing the game with seven hits and five runs after 3.0 innings of work.
The Monarchs put together a huge fifth inning, posting five runs off of four hits, all with two outs on the board. ODU is now 10-2 overall when scoring before its opponents. Nick Lustrino got on base first with a walk and was followed by a double to right field by Will Morgan to put runners on second and third. In his first at bat of the game, Hayes singled to left field, scoring Lustrino and Morgan. With runners on first and second, Zach Rutherford singled up the middle to push Hayes home and move Myers to third base. Rutherford showed his speed and proceeded to steal second, putting two runners in scoring position for ODU. Walker took full advantage of that and sent one up the middle to score both Myers and Rutherford to give the Monarchs the 5-0 lead.
Old Dominion put two more runs up in the fourth inning and three in the fifth to hold the hefty 10-0 advantage over the Tigers. In the fifth, Morgan grounded into a double play after Lustrino walked, but the Monarchs’ bats once again came alive in the two-out situation. With the bases loaded with speed (Rutherford, Myers, Hayes), Walker took to the plate and doubled to left field, picking up his final three RBI on the day.
Princeton’s only offensive threat came in the sixth inning, as the Tigers put up four runs after a string of walks by relief pitcher Nate Matheson. Grayson Bailey came in for Matheson and ended the inning after facing four batters.
The Baseball Monarchs are back in action this weekend at the Bud, as the team opens up Conference USA play with a three-game series with Western Kentucky. Last season, ODU went 1-2 against the Tops in Bowling Green, Ky. The first 100 fans will receive a free ODU baseball t-shirt, courtesy of ODU Athletics.
Princeton | 000 004 000 - 4 6 1
ODU | 050 230 00X - 10 14 0
Princeton | Tanner Kliewer, Ryan Smith (4), Trey Ramsey (6), Ben Gross (8)
ODU | Victor Diaz, Nate Matheson (6), Grayson Bailey (6), Morgan Maguire (7), Jake Josephs (8), Nick Hartman (9)
Win: Victor Diaz
Loss: Tanner Kliewer
Save: None
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