NORFOLK, Va. – After a 10-8 loss to Princeton on Tuesday, Old Dominion Baseball responded with a 12-1 win on Wednesday to split its midweek series versus the Tigers.
"I thought our guys came out ready to play today," ODU Head Coach Chris Finwood said afterwards. "We challenged them to play a better brand of baseball and they certainly did. It was nice to see Garrett Harker get his first start and throw the ball. Marco Levari also made his first appearance of the year and looked sharp. Those guys can help us down the road. We had some better at bats, took advantage of a couple errors and played a good game."
ODU's offense set the tone early as the Monarchs (10-7) scored four runs in the first and added another five in the second. With one out in the first, Meier walked and then stole second and third before scoring the first run of the game on a Luke Waters double down the left-field line. He then came home on an Evan Holman single to right that got past the Princeton outfielder, and the error allowed Holman to move up to third. Holman made it a 3-0 lead as Alex Bouche reached on a throwing error, and Bouche later came around on a Jackson Tone base knock to right field.
In ODU's next turn at the plate, Kyle Edwards hit a one-out single to left before Meier hit a ground ball to Princeton first baseman Kyle Vinci. Vinci attempted to get the force out at second, but his throw sailed wide. Waters then walked to load the bases and a fielding error by second baseman Jake Koonin allowed Edwards and Meier to score. After Waters swiped third base, a hard hit ground ball by Bouche hit the umpire standing in front of the shortstop, which caused Waters to be sent back to third on the play. It wouldn't matter though as a Kenny Levari single to right and a Tone double down the right-field line plated three more runs for a 9-0 lead.
The Tigers (3-9) finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning as Koonin reached on an ODU fielding error and later crossed the plate on a Jordan Kelly single to the gap in right. The Monarchs got the run back in the home half of the frame though. Jake Ticer pinch hit for Holman, but was hit by a pitch. The ball ricocheted off his knee and hit him in the face, so Nick Mueller pinch ran for him. He advanced to third on a Bouche double down the left-field line and then made it 10-1 on a Levari sacrifice fly to center.
Princeton gifted ODU another run in the fifth with a bases-loaded wild pitch. Then in the sixth, Hunter Cole pinch ran for Bouche after he doubled to center field, took third on a wild pitch, and ran home on a Levari RBI ground out to second. Marco Levari allowed just one baserunner in the seventh, but induced a fly out to center to end the game.
Garrett Harker (1-0) secured his first win as a Monarch after tossing 2.2 scoreless innings. He held the Tigers to just one hit, issued one walk one, hit one batter and added a strikeout. Steven Trone was responsible for one unearned run on one hit and also struck out two in 1.1 innings in relief and Marco Levari also tallied two strikeouts.
Bouche finished the day 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs while Tone went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and a stolen base. Levari (1-for-2) also drove in three runs and earned a base on balls, and Holman (1-for-2) had two RBIs and scored twice.
Up next for ODU is the team's Sun Belt opener this weekend as the Monarchs welcome Georgia Southern for three games at The Bud. The series gets under way with a 6 p.m. start on Friday. ODU and GS will then play again Saturday at 3 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Monarchs Pounce on the Tigers, 12-1
