NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion suffered its first shutout loss of the season after falling to No. 17 Florida Atlantic in game three, 11-0, at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex on Sunday afternoon. The loss also marked the second time the Monarchs were swept in a conference series this season, as ODU fell to 19-10 overall and 3-6 in league play. The Owls moved to 21-4 overall and 8-1 in C-USA with the win.
The game was cut short due to the Conference USA travel day rule, which states that if a team is winning by 10-plus runs after the seventh inning the game is finished.
Florida Atlantic got on the board first with two runs in the second inning off a RBI walk and a sacrifice fly. The Owls took a 4-0 lead in the third after Esteban Puerta homered to left field with a runner on first. ODU had a chance to score in the bottom of the fifth inning as a Will Morgan single to center field put runners on first and second with two outs, however Connor Myers popped up to the first baseman to end the inning.
With the bases loaded, Tyler Frank doubled to right field, scoring all three runners to give FAU the commanding 8-0 advantage in the seventh inning. The Owls out up three more runs in the top of the eighth, but Thomas Busbice stopped the scoring by striking out the final two FAU batters. Florida Atlantic retired 3-of-4 ODU batters in the bottom of the inning to secure the win.
Sean Labsan (4-0) earned the win after pitching 6.0 innings with eight strikeouts. Brett Smith suffered the loss after going the first 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits.
Zach Rutherford, Nick Walker and Morgan were the only Monarchs to register a hit on the day. Puerta led Florida Atlantic with a 4-for-5 showing with four RBIs and three runs scored. Frank also went 2-for-3 with four RBIs.
The Baseball Monarchs will be back in action on Wednesday, April 6 at 6 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Complex against the William & Mary Tribe. The game will be streamed live on Monarch Media through odusports.com and live stats will be available once the contest begins.
FAU | 022 001 33 – 11 13 0
ODU | 000 000 00 – 0 3 0
FAU | Sean Labsan, Alex House (7), Mark Nowatnick (8), Nick Swan (8)
ODU | Brett Smith, Adam Bainbridge (4), Culver Lamb (7), Thomas Busbice (8)
Win | Sean Labsan (4-0)
Loss | Brett Smith (1-1)
Save | None
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