HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Old Dominion Baseball team couldn't overcome an early 6-0 deficit as the Monarchs fell to James Madison 6-4 on Saturday at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
"We played better. Just got behind by too much. Still struck out too many times but we fought our way back into the game," said head coach Chris Finwood. "Big game tomorrow and we need to come out ready to play! JMU is playing well right now and with a lot of confidence. We need to make something happen to turn some momentum around."
The Dukes (29-20, 14-10) opened the scoring as Jack Cone, then Fenwick Trimble singled and Mike Mancini hit a three run homer giving JMU a 3-0 lead. James Madison added a run in the second on a fielder's choice. In the third inning the Dukes added two to make the score 6-0 courtesy of a sacrifice fly and a fielders choice.
The Monarchs (30-20, 13-13) got the bats going in the sixth inning as Alex Bouche singled, Jay Tarkenton singled, and Ransom singled as Bouche was thrown out at home. Robbie O'Neal then walked and Tarkenton later scored on a wild pitch. Kyle Edwards then hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Ransom making it 6-2.
In the eighth inning the Monarchs struck again after an O'Neal two out walk Edwards launched his third home run of the year over the left field wall making it 6-4.
In the ninth inning Kenny Levari walked and Jake Ticer walked but with two outs Tarkenton popped out to first to end it.
Tarkenton led ODU going (3-5) and Levari went (2-4). Armstrong received his second loss on the season (9-2) after going five innings giving up five hits and six runs. Jacob Gomez came into the ball game in relief and went three innings give up one hit and striking out five.
ODU will take on James Madison tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the series finale.
ODU Baseball Falls To JMU 6-4 On Saturday
