NORFOLK, Va. – Brock Gagliardi's grand slam ignited a 12-run outburst in the second inning as the Old Dominion baseball team (5-2) cruised to a 16-3 win over Rhode Island (2-4) on Sunday afternoon at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
"I was proud of how we came out ready to roll today! We lost two tough games and it showed a lot of character and toughness to come out with the energy we had today," said ODU head coach Chris Finwood. "Ryne Moore gave us a really good start and the offense got a lot of big hits! Robbie Petracci and Gagliardi led the way but we had a bunch of bit hits up and down the lineup. We had three regular guys out with injuries but I told the guys before the game, I really liked the way the lineup looked on paper. They went out and made it happen."
The Monarchs sent 17 men to the plate in the second, scoring 12 runs on eight hits. Andy Garriola and Petracci started the inning with back-to-back base knocks before Lincoln Ransom was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That brought up Gagliardi, who deposited the ball over the fence in left field to put ODU ahead, 4-0. Gagliardi finished the day with two hits, four driven in and three runs scored.
After plating two more runs on a groundout and a Kenny Levari double, Petracci doubled in his second at-bat of the frame to drive in Tommy Bell and Levari and chase Rams starter Vitaly Jangols from the game. Two batters later, Carter Trice knocked a bases loaded double into the gap to score Ransom and Petracci and put the Monarchs up 10-0. Old Dominion quickly reloaded the bases and pushed across its 11th run of the inning when Kyle Battled walked on four-straight pitches. Trice rounded out the scoring in the second when he reached home on a passed ball.
A freshman from Mechanicsville, Virginia, Trice reached base safely five times on Sunday, going 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and a pair driven in.
The bats got back to work in the bottom of the fourth, plating two more runs to make the score 14-0. Todd Moxey entered the game for URI and promptly loaded the bases on a walk, a hit by pitch and another walk. After a Thomas Wheeler popup, Battle lifted a sacrifice fly into center to bring home Ransom. Levari followed with a single up the middle to score Gagliardi.
Battle drove in three runs and scored once while going 1-for-4 from the leadoff spot. Levari knocked two base hits and drove in a pair.
ODU tacked on runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. Petracci led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer to center field for his third hit, third RBI and third run scored of the game. The following inning, Battle reached home on a fielder's choice.
With the offense firing, ODU starter Moore cruised through his six innings of work, scattering two hits and a walk while striking out five. The right-handed pitcher from Limerick, Pennsylvania threw a perfect top of the first before facing his toughest test of the game in the second. A leadoff single and a walk put runners on first and second with one out, but Moore got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Moore stranded a runner in the top of the third before logging three-straight clean innings to end his day. In all, Moore retired the final 11 batters he faced en route to his second win of the season.
Aaron Holiday entered the game in relief of Moore in the seventh and stranded two Rams with a pair of swinging strikeouts to end the inning.
All three URI runs came in the top of the eighth inning. Alex Santos opened the scoring with a single into center before Mark Coley tripled to drive home two more Rams.
Brad Dobzanski took to the mound in the top of the ninth inning and set down URI in order to end the game.
Jangols took the loss for URI, giving up nine runs on seven hits across 1.2 innings.
The Monarchs take to the road for the first time this season for a 4 p.m. game at East Carolina on Wednesday. ODU then returns to the Bud for a three-game weekend series with Northeastern.
Big Second Inning Carries Baseball Monarchs to 16-3 Win over Rhode Island
