HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – It was a complete team effort by Old Dominion Baseball on Sunday as the Monarchs captured the rubber match, 12-2 over Marshall for the team's first road series win of the season.
"Second Sunday in a row that we have shown up ready to play and won a series," said ODU Head Coach Chris Finwood. "I'm proud of how we played today. We pitched well, played good defense and got a bunch of big, two-out hits. Bryce Jones and Kyle Edwards had big days for us at the plate and Trent Buchanan came up big for us out of the bullpen."
All nine batters in the lineup contributed to the victory with at least a hit, a run or an RBI. Edwards (2-for-4) collected five RBIs and added a double, two runs and a walk to his totals. Jones (2-for-3) drove in three runs, scored another, doubled and also walked. Evan Holman had the other multi-hit outing for the Monarchs (21-18, 9-9 Sun Belt), batting 2-for-3 with two runs and one base on balls.
ODU combined to hit 10-for-34 (.294), drew eight walks and was hit by pitch five times.
The Monarchs also had some strong performances on the mound. Buchanan (3-1) retired 12 straight batters and threw 4.2 scoreless frames to earn the win. The senior from Gig Harbor, Washington allowed just two hits and struck out four. Steven Trone gave up one hit and issued a walk in 1.1 innings in relief while Brandon Pond struck out a pair and retired all three batters he faced in the ninth. Starter Dylan Brown was tagged for two runs on as many hits in the first. He added four strikeouts with one walk in two complete innings.
Old Dominion's offense didn't waste any time as TJ Aiken and Edwards walked and Steven Meier was hit by a pitch to load the bases at the start of the game. Luke Waters and Jake Ticer followed with a pair of sacrifice flies as the Monarchs went up 2-0. The Thundering Herd (13-26, 6-12) answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. Cam Harthan led off with a single up the middle, Owen Ayers walked, and AJ Havrilla laid down a sac bunt to move both runners up. Caden Kaiser then tied the game with a two-RBI single through the right side.
The Monarchs retook the lead 3-2 in the top half of the second as Holman singled and came around on a Jones double to left center. Later in the fourth and with the bases loaded, Aiken wore a pitch for a 4-2 advantage. Edwards followed with a two-RBI hit up the middle to extend the lead to 6-2. Marshall had a chance to cut into the ODU lead with one out and runners in scoring position in the bottom of the frame. However, Buchanan came in and struck out one batter and fielded a ground ball to end the threat.
ODU loaded the bases yet again in the fifth after Ticer singled, Kenny Levari walked and Holman was plunked. With two outs, Jones smacked a 1-1 pitch to left field, bringing in Ticer and Levari for an 8-2 lead. The Herd had another opportunity to respond with no outs and runners on the corners in the bottom of the frame, but Buchanan induced a pop up to second, got the next batter swinging, and another batter to ground out to third.
Jones tagged up on an Edwards sac fly to right to push the lead to 9-2 in the eighth. ODU then plated another three runs in the ninth as an Edwards double brought in Maverick Stallings and Aiken and Edwards ran home on a Meier single up the middle.
The Monarchs will be back at Bud Metheny Ballpark this Tuesday when they host VCU at 6 p.m. in what will be ODU's Bark in the Park game.
Monarchs Rout Thundering Herd, 12-2 in Sunday's Rubber Match
