STATESBORO, Ga. – Camden Grimes, Alex Bouche and Thomas Wheeler all homered as Old Dominion baseball won its Sun Belt series opener at Georgia Southern 7-5 on Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
"I thought Blake Morgan pitched well tonight," said head coach Chris Finwood. "We didn't help him by not catching a couple routine foul pop ups. Bailey Matela came in and got two big outs for us and John Holobetz continues to grow as a guy at the end of games for us. Three big home runs helped us beat a very good pitcher in Ty Fisher for them."
The Eagles (13-13, 4-3 Sun Belt) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. After Jesse Sherrill led off with a single to shortstop, Tyler Wheeler dropped a foul ball that extended the at bat for Jarrett Brown, who worked a full count for a base on balls. Noah Ledford then drove in Sherrill as Brown moved up to third on the play. It looked as though Georgia Southern would add some insurance with no outs and runners on the corners, but Blake Morgan struck out a pair and induced a foul out to third to keep it a 1-0 deficit.
ODU pulled even as Bouche led off the second with a homer to right center. In the third, the Monarchs (21-5, 6-1) jumped ahead with three runs on five hits. Grimes made it 3-1 with a line-drive two-run shot that hit the scoreboard in left field. Three straight singles from Hunter Fitz-Gerald, Bouche and Jake Ticer brought in another run for the 4-1 advantage.
GS got a run back in the bottom of the fifth as Brown hit an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right center. Bouche and Ticer drew back-to-back walks to start the top of the sixth, and the pair moved up on a Kenny Levari sacrifice bunt. Thomas Wheeler connected on a 1-0 offering for ODU's third long ball of the game, a three-run blast to left center that gave the Monarchs a 7-2 cushion.
A pair of ODU errors and three singles helped GS plate two runs in the home half of the sixth. Down 7-4, the Eagles had the tying run at the plate with one out and runners in scoring position, but Matela recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. JP Tighe led off the bottom of the eighth with a deep fly to left, but ODU took care of the next three batters and retired the Eagles in order in the ninth.
Morgan (3-2) got the win after holding the hosts to four runs, two of them earned, on eight hits and two walks. The sophomore from Marlton, New Jersey finished with five strikeouts in the 5.1-inning start. Holobetz collected his fourth save of the season with one run on one hit, no walks and three strikeouts through 2.2 innings of relief.
Bouche went 2-for-3 with the home run, two runs, one RBI and one walk. Grimes and Thomas Wheeler both hit 1-for-4 with a home run, Grimes adding two RBIs and Wheeler three RBIs to their totals.
"Any road wins are good ones and to get a Friday win down here, I thought our guys showed some toughness and some growth," added Finwood.
Saturday's game, originally scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, has been moved back to 7 p.m. due to inclement weather expected in the forecast.