MIAMI – The Old Dominion baseball team scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings and got two home runs and a career-high eight RBIs from Andy Garriola in a 14-7 win over FIU on Saturday night. In the process, Garriola moved into a tie with Ron Walker (1995-97) for third place on the career home runs list at ODU with 36.
The Monarchs (19-5, 4-4 C-USA) wasted little time getting going as Tommy Bell led off the game with a double. Carter Trice followed with a walk to set up a bases-clearing double by Garriola.
The Panthers (10-16, 3-5) scored three in the bottom of the frame, but ODU went ahead for good in the second. Thomas Wheeler hit a leadoff single then stole second before coming around to score on a Josh Trujillo single. Trujillo then scored on Bell's second double in as many innings.
Matt Coutney and Brock Gagliardi hit back-to-back homers in the top of the third as ODU pushed its lead to 6-3. Nick Pantos allowed a leadoff single in the home half of the third but struck out two straight batters to strand a runner on third.
Garriola left the yard for the first time in the fourth, driving in Kenny Levari and Trice to make it a 9-3 game before Pantos threw another scoreless inning.
FIU tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth. Alec Sanchez drew a leadoff walk, and Jorge Ramirez singled to put runners on first and second with one out. That Ramirez single spelled the end of the day for Pantos, who exited for Pete Nielsen. After a double steal by the Panthers, Nielsen struck out the first batter he faced. With two outs, Noel Perez singled into left field to drive in a run with Trujillo and Levari combining to throw out Ramirez at home plate.
Pantos was charged with four runs on six hits over 4.1 innings. He walked two batters and struck out six.
After another scoreless top of the sixth, FIU added an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to pull to within four at 9-5, but the Monarchs gained separation with three more in the top of the seventh. Three of the first four Monarchs in the seventh drew walks, loading the bases with just one out. Gagliardi came home on a wild pitch before Levari walked to reload the bases. Once again, the Panthers uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Trujillo to score. Trice drew yet another walk to load the bases once more before Garriola lifted a sacrifice fly into right to drive in Bell.
Brett Smith faced the minimum in the bottom of the seventh but gave up two runs in the eighth on consecutive two-out singles. Garriola provided the punctuation mark in the ninth with a two-run homer before Vincent Bashara threw a perfect bottom of the ninth to finish out the game.
ODU had 14 hits on Saturday with eight going for extra bases, including four home runs. All nine starters had at least one hit, and four Monarchs had multiple hits. Garriola led the way with a 3-for-5 showing.
Brad Dobzanski (3-0) picked up the win after allowing an unearned run on no hits with one walk and one strikeout. FIU starter Carlos Lequerica was tagged with the loss, giving up six runs on seven hits in three innings of work.
The rubber match is set for noon on Sunday.
Garriola Homers Twice in Baseball’s 14-7 Win at FIU
