NORFOLK, Va. – Senior Andy Garriola of the Old Dominion baseball team became the program's new career home run leader in the bottom of the seventh inning, hitting the 38th of his career in an 11-0 win over Conference USA rival UTSA.
Garriola's coronating homer was a no-doubt shot into left field, and it provided late electricity to an already decided contest as Blake Morgan and Jacob Gomez combined to strikeout 13 in ODU's third shutout of the season.
A freshman left-hander from Marlton, New Jersey, Morgan proved he was up to the occasion of his first weekend start, pulling the plug on a red-hot UTSA (19-11, 5-5 C-USA) squad. He set new personal bests with 10 strikeouts and six innings of work while allowing just three hits and no walks to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Morgan allowed a one-out single to Matt King in the top of the second before retiring the next nine batters he faced. He then ran into his biggest jam of the evening as Isaiah Walker and Garrett Poston hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners, but Morgan preserved the shutout with a fly ball to left field.
Roadrunners starter Luke Malone, the C-USA leader in ERA, matched Morgan in the early going. He allowed a leadoff double to Matt Coutney in the second inning, who then scored on a one-out single by Brock Gagliardi.
That would be all the Monarchs (22-6, 6-4) could muster until tacking on three more in the bottom of the fifth. Kyle Edwards led off the frame with a single into left. Edwards then beat out Matt King's throw to second on an attempted fielder's choice, putting two runners on for Kenny Levari. Levari doubled into center field to score both Edwards and Tommy Bell before eventually coming home on a Coutney sacrifice fly.
Levari hit 4-for-5 on Friday night with three runs scored and four driven in.
Gomez entered in relief in the seventh inning and quickly spun a perfect inning. Garriola then made it 6-0 in the bottom half of the frame with his record-breaking homer, a two-run shot that scored Levari.
ODU turned the lights out on the Roadrunners with five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Levari hit a single through the right side to drive in Edwards and Thomas Wheeler before Josh Trujillo wrapped a ball around the foul pole in left for a three-run shot, his second of the season.
Gomez worked around a one-out single in the ninth for the first save of his career.
The two sides reconvene on Saturday at 3 p.m.