NORFOLK, Va. -- In the early hours of Sunday morning, Ryan Teschko drove in Matt Coutney with a one out single in the bottom of the 12th inning as Old Dominion pulled out an 8-7 victory over Marshall to clinch the final home series of the season.
Coutney started the 12th with a walk and went to third on a single through the middle by Andy Garriola, who advanced to second without a throw after a strikeout. Teschko took an 0-2 pitch through the middle past the diving attempt by Goerdon Blaton at short to score Coutney for the win.
Much like in Friday's game, Marshall got on the board in the top of the first with three runs courtesy of a three-run blast to left by Kyle Schaefer. Starting pitcher Patrick Copen made it stand until the Monarchs scratched a run in the bottom of the third. Tommy Bell singled and went to second on a Chris Dengler single. A double play moved Bell to third where he scored on an RBI single from Coutney to trim the deficit to 3-1.
The Monarchs got to Copen in the sixth inning putting up five runs as Garriola started with a double and went to third as Levari reached on a one-out error. A double steal plated Garriola before Bell was hit by a pitch for the 49th time in his career. Dengler followed with a single to center and took second on a throwing error to allow Levari to score. Thomas Wheeler greeted new pitcher Chad Heiner with a walk to load the bases before Josh Trujillo walked to plate Bell. Coutney followed with a double to left center scoring Wheeler and Dengler as the Monarchs took a 6-3 lead.
Marshall (20-29-1, 9-17) responded with four runs on one swing of the bat as with two outs, Jordon Billups smacked a grand slam to left center to put the Thundering Herd back in front 7-6.
Old Dominion (33-15, 15-11) tied the game in the ninth as Robbie Petracci singled to right and was pinch ran for by Kyle Edwards who promptly stole second. After a walk to Levari, Bell advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Dengler hit a ground ball to Blanton deep enough to allow Edwards to score and tie the game at 7-all.
Noah Dean earned the win for ODU throwing the last two innings with three strikeouts and one walk with no hits. Jacob Gomez pitched 4.2 innings with a season high 10 strikeouts in relief of starter Nick Pantos who went 5.1 with six strikeouts. The Monarch pitchers combined to strikeout a season high 19 batters.
Coutney was 4-for-6 with three RBIs and two doubles to lead ODU. Garriola was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Dengler was 2-for-6 with two driven in to join Coutney in the multi-hit club.
Six different Marshall players had two hits each.
Game three of the series will be at 1 p.m., approximately 12 hours after the conclusion of game two, Sunday afternoon. The graduation and Senior Day ceremony will take place approximately 12:30 p.m.
Baseball Walks Off Marshall With 8-7 12-Inning Win Early Sunday Morning
