ODU Baseball Team Rallies From a 4-0 Deficit to Defeat JMU and Clinch Sun Belt Tournament Bid

HARRISONBURG, Va. – It took extra innings, a clutch throw and tag in the bottom of the ninth and home runs from two guys who don't usually start, but the Old Dominion baseball team denied James Madison a weekend sweep and clinched a bid to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon.
 
The Monarchs scored three runs in the top of the 11^th, and Joey DeChiaro came out of the bullpen to get the save, as ODU rallied from a 4-0 deficit and defeated JMU, 8-5, at Eagle Field.
 
Combined with Coastal Carolina's victory over South Alabama, the ODU win guaranteed the Monarchs (31-20, 14-13 Sun Belt) will finish no worse than 10^th in the Sun Belt standings. The top 10 teams all go to next week's tournament in Montgomery, Alabama.
 
ODU still has hopes of finishing among the top six, which would allow the Monarchs to avoid the play-in round. The bottom four seeds play to advance to the double-elimination second round.
 
ODU is tied for eighth with Georgia State and Georgia Southern. The Monarchs are 1 ½ games behind sixth-place Appalachian State (15-11, 25-21) and a game behind seventh-place JMU (14-11, 29-21).
 
The Monarchs might have to sweep their season-ending final home series against Georgia State Thursday, Friday and Saturday to finish among the top six.


Kyle Edwards celebrates after his home run tied the score in the fifth. 

Old Dominion also hosts VCU Tuesday at 4.
 
ODU head coach Chris Finwood, who was critical of his team's effort after Friday's 25-6 loss to JMU, praised his team's character after Sunday's win. The victory broke ODU's four-game losing streak and ended JMU's five-game winning streak.
 
"It was a heck of a win, and we certainly needed it," he said. "We were down four starting hitters and the guys battled back from down four.
 
"I was proud of our toughness today. We showed a lot of heart."
 
Two guys who rarely start – Kyle Edwards and Jay Tarkenton – both had home runs. Tarkenton drove in three runs with his third-inning blast and scored once while Edwards scored three times and tied the game at four with his solo shot in the fifth.
 
The game never would have gone into extra innings had it not been for a clutch throw from right fielder Josh Trujillo to catcher Robbie O'Neal.
 
JMU sent the game into extra innings in the bottom of the ninth on a perfectly executed suicide bunt by Coleman Calabrese, who topped the ball to first base, scoring Kyle Novak.
 
Mason Dunaway then singled to right and Jaylon Lee rounded third and headed home for what would have been the winning run.
 
But Trujillo quickly gloved the ball and made a good throw to O'Neal. Lee attempted to slide head first to O'Neal's left, but the ODU catcher gloved the ball on his right and stretched to his left and applied the tag to end the inning.
 
Replays confirmed Lee was out.


Hunter Fitz-Gerald celebrates after Kyle Edwards doubled up JMU's Jaylon Lee to end the game.  

Edwards began the 11th with a single and then Trujillo attempted a sacrifice bunt but beat it out for an infield hit. Jackson Tone, the freshman who got his first career hit in Friday's 25-6 loss to JMU, then sacrificed the runners to second and third.
 
The Dukes then intentionally walked Kenny Levari to try to set up the double play, but instead, Alex Bouche grounded out to third, scoring Edwards for a 6-5 lead.
 
After Hunter Fitz-Gerald was intentionally walked, Chris Dengler singled to left, scoring Trujillo and Levari to make it 8-5. 
 
Junior Vincent Bashara ran his record to 3-0 with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. 
 
DeChiaro relieved him with a man on first and no outs in the 11th. He forced one ground out, and then got Calabrese to hit into a game-ending double play on a fly out to Edwards in left-center.  Edwards gunned a throw to first to double up Lee.