NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion baseball team lost 15-12 to FIU on Friday evening at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
"It was a crazy game, and they came up with a few more big hits than we did," head coach Chris Finwood said. "It was going to be a day when a lot of runs had the potential to be scored with the way the wind was blowing. I thought it was one of our worst performances I've seen in a while on the mound, and give their hitters a lot of credit for battling as well. We have to bounce back tomorrow and play better than today. It's just one game of four, so we're looking forward to getting back out on the field against them tomorrow."
Friday's game saw a combined 27 runs on 34 hits. Seven Monarchs recorded multiple hits, led by Kenny Levari's three.
In a high scoring affair, the Panthers (9-9, 1-0 CUSA) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead off a two-run homer from Justin Farmer in the first frame. ODU (14-5, 0-1) responded with an Andy Garriola three-run shot, to take a 3-2 advantage into the second inning. Garriola finished the game 2-for-4 from the plate with one run scored and five driven in.
ODU continued its offensive spark in the second inning, knocking in three runs in the bottom of the frame. Carter Trice singled to drive home Kyle Battle, who reached base on a walk. Junior Brock Gagliardi singled to the right field to bring home Kenny Levari, who also singled. Garriola followed up with a sacrifice fly to bring in Trice.
The Panthers closed in on ODU's lead, tacking on two runs in the third inning to make the score 6-4.
FIU took the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning before tacking on another run in the top of the six to make it a 9-6 game. Trice drove in Tommy Bell with an infield single in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 9-7.
The eighth inning saw an offensive explosion as the two sides combined for 11 runs. The Panthers plated six in the top of the inning to take a 15-7 lead into the bottom of the frame. ODU responded with five of their own in the bottom of the eighth to keep its comeback hopes alive.
Ryan Teschko led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple and promptly scored on a Bell sacrifice fly. The next batter, Battle, homered on the second pitch of his at-bat. Gagliardi doubled down the line in right to push home two more. He was followed by an infield single from Garriola, which drove home Trice. Robbie Petracci wrapped up the inning with a run-scoring single into right field.
Jason Hartline threw a clean top of the ninth inning to keep the Monarchs within three of the Panthers. In the bottom of the ninth, Levari picked up a one-out single, but Trice grounded into a double play to end the game.
Up Next
The two teams will meet again on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
ODU Drops C-USA Opener to FIU, 15-12
