By Harry Minium
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Almost no lead is safe against the Old Dominion baseball team, a lesson that East Carolina learned in bitter fashion Tuesday night.
ECU led most of the way and carried a 7-4 lead into the final inning. But the Monarchs staged a dramatic rally in the top of the ninth, scoring four runs on four hits to claim an 8-7 victory at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The victory gave ODU (21-6) a sweep of the two-game series this season with ECU (16-14). ODU rallied to beat the Pirates, 9-8, in 10 innings last month at Bud Metheny Ballpark.
It also came just two days after the Monarchs returned from a nightmarish, 24-hour road trip on a bus back from FIU after their flight from Miami was cancelled.
ODU didn't play particularly well in the field, committing three errors, and especially struggled with the ECU bunting game. The Pirates bunted four times for base hits. And heading into the ninth, ODU had stranded 10 baserunners.
But ODU is third nationally in both home runs and scoring and showed why when the meat of its order came to the plate in the top of the ninth.
Second baseman Carter Trice began the inning with a long double to right field. Left fielder Andy Garriola then drove a long single to left to score Trice.
Matt Coutney then singled -- his fourth hit of the game -- to bring the winning run to the plate. Robbie Petracci then drilled a home run deep over the right field fence to give ODU an 8-7 lead.
ODU then brought in ace reliever Noah Dean, who D1Baseball ranks the nation's best relief pitcher. He walked Alex Makarewicz to begin the inning.
But throwing a fast ball that consistently measured in the high 90s, he forced C.J. Boyd to hit into a fielder's choice and then struck out Justin Wilcoxen and Bryson Worrell to end the game.
He picked up his fifth save of the season and 16th in his career, which ties him for second among ODU relievers. Vincent Bashara, the eighth of nine ODU relief pitchers, picked up the victory.
Petracci drove his home run deep over the right field fence, but said he was just hoping to hit a fly ball.
"There was a runner on third and no outs, so my thought process was, 'let's get this runner in and make this a one-run game,'" he said. "I just wanted to hit the ball in the air and just let that guy score."
But when the ball left the bat, everyone in the stadium knew it was a home run. ECU's right and center fielders simply watched it sail over their heads.
Petracci said that the Monarchs were exhausted after the trip home from Florida. After arriving back to campus at 4 p.m. Monday, he said that he and Trice, his roommate, simply took their stuff to their apartment and fell in bed.
"We didn't even take a shower," he said. "We hopped right in our beds and slept until the morning. We were all kind of beat up from that."
It was the third victory in a row for ODU, which heads into a key Conference USA series against UTSA this weekend with a ton of momentum.
Coach Chris Finwood said the Monarchs didn't play well in the field but noted, correctly, ODU was without starting second baseman Chris Dengler, who is out with an injury, and standout shortstop Tommy Bell, he drove a line drive off his knee early in the game.
"But when you can hit the ball out of the ballpark, you're never out of it and it's something we've done," he said. "We kind of hung around and minimized some innings. They only had one big inning.
"We've won three in a row now, all on the road. It will be nice to play at home.
"The guys should be feeling pretty good about themselves."
ECU took the lead in the bottom of the second. Makarewicz singled, second baseman Jacob Starling was hit by pitcher Tommy Gertner, and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart then sacrifice bunted the runners to second and third.
Finwood then made his first substitution of the game, pulling Gertner for Henry Hersum, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound freshman from Saunderstown, Rhode Island, who made his first collegiate appearance.
Hersum threw well. Bryson Worrell flied deep to left to score Makarewicz, but then Hersum got the third out when Ben Newton flied out to center.
The Pirates made it 3-0 in the bottom of the third. Zach Agnos and Lane Hoover both stroked singles off of reliever Joey Rodriguez. After Josh Maylon flied out to left, designated hitter Cam Clonch walked to load the bases and Makarewicz was then walked, scoring a run.
Trey Fisher then came in to pitch, and dinged Jacob Starling, driving in another run. He then forced Jenkins-Cowart to hit into a double play.
Coutney hit a solo home run far over the center field fence to make it 3-1 in the top of the fourth.
ODU then tied it up in the top of the fifth, an inning that began badly when Bell hit a ball off of his left knee and left the game. He was injured earlier this season when he was hit by a pitcher in the same knee.
Kenny Levari singled and Trice walked and they were driven in by Garriola, who drilled a double across the third base bag deep into left field.
A pitch earlier, Garriola came a few feet away from hitting his 38th career home run, but the ball tailed foul around the left field foul pole. He is tied for the ODU career lead with 37 dingers.
Coutney then walked, after fouling off half a dozen pitches, to put two runners on third but then Petracci hit a higher chopper deftly fielded by shortstop Zach Agnos, who threw Petracci out by half a step.
ECU then retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Cowart-Jenkins poled a home run over the right field fence with two runners on to make it 6-3.
ODU rallied to score a run in the bottom of the fifth and could have had a lot more had it not been for a defensive gem by left fielder Lane Hoover.
Thomas Wheeler and Jared Hancock both singled, with Wheeler advancing to third. Kyle Edwards then laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Wheeler.
Josh Trujillo and Levari both walked, loading the bases.
Trice, who came into the game hitting .330, fouled off several balls to bring it to a full count. He was then called out on a ball that was inches off the outside corner.
Garriola then drilled a line drive to left field that likely would have scored three runs had it fallen, but Hoover made a diving catch, much to the delight of Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd of 2,673.
ECU scored an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice bunt by Worrell to make it 7-4. But in the end, it proved not to be enough.
ODU Baseball Team Rallies with Four Runs in the Ninth to Upend ECU, 8-7
