NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion baseball head coach Chris Finwood won his 500th career game in ODU's 14-0 blowout of FIU in game one of the doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. ODU won its second game of the doubleheader by a 3-2 decision over the Panthers.
Finwood also won his 300th and 400th career games while head coach of the Monarchs. In the Monarchs' victory over Northeastern on March 5, Finwood reached his 250th win as the ODU skipper.
Coach Finwood Milestones
First head coaching win: Feb. 21, 1992 vs. Shenandoah (7-2 at VMI)
100th head coaching win: Feb. 22, 2008 vs. Bowling Green (11-4 at WKU)
200th head coaching win: April 10, 2010 vs. South Alabama (12-4 at WKU)
300th head coaching win: Mar. 8, 2014 at No. 17 Rice (2-1 at ODU, 10 inn.)
400th head coaching win: Mar. 17, 2017 vs. Rice (3-2 at ODU)
500th head coaching win: Mar. 27, 2021 vs. FIU (14-0 at ODU)
First win at ODU: Feb. 17, 2012 vs. Temple (5-4 at ODU)
100th win at ODU: April 5, 2015 vs. Charlotte (15-1 at ODU)
200th win at ODU: Feb. 26, 2019 vs. Norfolk State (11-0 at ODU)
"The guys bounced back. I was really proud of them coming off a tough loss yesterday where we didn't pitch well but swung the bats well," said Finwood. "We came out great in the first game, just an all around good game. I told the guys 500 wins is nice, but 501 meant a lot more to me because we really had to grind the second game out."
ODU (16-5, 2-1 C-USA) opened up the first game hot, knocking in three runs in the first inning off an Andy Garriola home run, his fifth of the season. The Monarchs added a run in the second to extend its lead to 4-0.
The Monarchs produced three more runs in the fifth inning. Brock Gagliardi and Andy Garriola reached on walks to put runners on first and second. Freshman Robbie Petracci knocked in Dominick Claxton, who pinch ran for Gagliardi. Tommy Bell tacked on a Garriola run. Thomas Wheeler scored a third run in the fifth when Bell forced a run-down on a stolen base attempt.
ODU extended its lead in the sixth with seven runs off three hits. Freshman catcher Robby Barrientos recorded his first collegiate RBI in the sixth.
Nick Pantos recorded his second win of the season, fanning four batters in five innings. Jason Hartline entered the game in relief, recording two shutout innings, striking out four Panthers.
In game two, the contest remained scoreless through three innings. FIU (9-11, 1-2 C-USA) struck first in the fourth inning off an RJ Ibanez single, sending in Juan Teixeira, who reached on a single.
ODU responded in the bottom of the frame when Trice smacked a double after Kenny Levari led off with a walk. Garriola struck a sac fly to send home Levari to even up the ball game, 1-1. Trice then capitalized off an FIU passed ball, to give ODU a 2-1 advantage through four innings. Each team notched one run in the fifth, including the eventual game-winning sac fly by Kyle Battle, but ODU's strong pitching from Hunter Gregory and Noah Dean led ODU past the Panthers, 3-2 in the second game of the day.
Gregory compiled eight strikeouts and did not allow a walk in five innings of work, while Dean closed things down with four strikeouts in two innings.
Up Next
ODU and FIU will face off once more on Sunday, March 28 for a noon start at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
Coach Finwood Wins 500th Career Game; Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader over FIU
