NORFOLK, Va. -- Will Morgan hit three of Old Dominion's five home runs and the Monarchs defeated Kansas State, 11-8, in a slugfest on Sunday afternoon at the Bud Metheny Complex.
"We were getting some pitches to hit and obviously putting better swings on them," said head coach Chris Finwood. "I thought we played good defense again. Second day in a row with no errors. That's obviously helpful too."
Morgan became the fifth player in program history to hit three home runs in a game and the first since Ben Verlander in 2013. The junior outfielder homered in his first three at-bats of the game to give Old Dominion (3-4) an early lead that it would not relinquish.
"It was pretty awesome," said Morgan of his historic game. "I was just trying to hit the ball hard. I was working hard in BP today to just try and be short to the ball and it ended up working out for me."
The Monarchs notched season highs in runs with 11 and hits with 14. Culver Lamb, who hit a team-best .643 for the series, and Vinnie Pasquantino also homered for ODU. Lamb ended the day 3-for-5 and fell a triple shy of the cycle and Matt Schwarz also had a big day at the dish, going 4-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
On the mound, Jason Hartline earned the victory, the first of his ODU career, with 1.1 innings of shutout relief. Overall, the ODU bullpen combined to allow just three runs on five hits in six innings, after starting pitcher Brett Smith exited after three.
"We mixed-and-matched enough out of the bullpen," said Finwood. "Our pitching is just a mess right now, but we're battling through it."
Kansas State (4-4) still won the series after victories on Friday and Saturday.
Up next, the Monarchs hit the road for a midweek contest at East Carolina on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
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