NORFOLK, Va. -- After multiple rain delays, the Old Dominion baseball team dropped a 3-1 contest to the 17th-ranked Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday night at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. ODU fell to 19-9 overall and 3-5 in Conference USA, while FAU moved to 20-4 on the season and 7-1 in the league.
Both teams had a quick first two innings with no runs and no hits for either squad, but Florida Atlantic was the first to score with a three-run third inning. Tyler Frank singled through the left side and was moved to second off a sacrifice bunt from Jose Bonilla Traverso. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored after Stephen Kerr grounded out to Zach Rutherford. With Billy Endris on first, CJ Chatham hit a home run to give the Owls the 3-0 advantage.
The Baseball Monarchs went three up, three down for four straight innings, but lit up the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh with an inside the park home run from Rutherford. The hit marked the shortstop’s first career home run. ODU had a chance to put more runs on the board after Kurt Sinnen singled up the middle, but Will Morgan’s shot down the right field line was ruled a ground-rule double, stranding the runners on second and third.
ODU held the Owls scoreless in the eighth and ninth, but Cameron Ragsdale earned his eighth save of the year for FAU by pitching the ninth inning and striking out two to secure the win.
Morgan (1-1), Rutherford (1-4) and Sinnen (1-3) were the only Monarchs to register a hit on the night for ODU. Victor Diaz suffered the loss, pitching a season-high 6.2 innings with three runs, seven hits and two strikeouts.
Marc Stewart earned the win after going 7.0 innings with three hits and one run. He also registered five strikeouts. Chatham (2-4) and Frank (2-4) led FAU with two hits, while Chatham put up a team leading two RBIs.
The Monarchs will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the final game of the series against the Owls at the Bud Metheny Complex. The game will once again be streamed live on Monarch Media through odusports.com and live stats will be available once the contest begins.
FAU | 003 000 000 - 3 8 1
ODU | 000 000 100 - 1 3 0
FAU | Marc Stewart, Devon Carr (8), Cameron Ragsdale (9)
ODU | Victor Diaz, Joey Benitez (7), Morgan Maguire (8)
Win | Marc Stewart (4-0)
Loss | Victor Diaz (3-2)
Save | Cameron Ragsdale (8)
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