ATLANTA – Dylan Brown struck out 10 Georgia Tech batters in a five-inning start and Old Dominion Baseball took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Yellow Jackets rallied for a 7-3 final on Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Reliever Bailey Matela had no problem with the Yellow Jackets (2-0) in the bottom of the eighth, working around a one-out walk, but got into trouble in the ninth. After walking the leadoff man, a single through the left side and another free pass loaded the bases with no outs for the hosts. Georgia Tech’s Tyler Neises then drove in a pair of runs with a single to left center to trim ODU’s lead to 3-2.
The Monarchs (0-2) then turned to Frankie Wright, but a throwing error to first allowed GT to reload the bases. Kyle Lodise then drew a four-pitch walk to tie the game and Drew Burress homered to right field to complete the comeback.
“It was another good ball game, but we can’t walk three guys in the ninth inning and expect to win,” said ODU Head Coach Chris Finwood.
ODU scored all three of its runs in the first inning. Efrain Morales led off the game and was hit by a pitch, and Tech starting pitcher Brady Jones proceeded to walk Luke Waters, Kainen Jorge and Tyler Zedalis as the Monarchs went up 1-0. Zach Leite then made it 3-0 with a 2-RBI single down the left-field line.
Tech looked like it might get to Brown in the bottom of the second as Vahn Lackey hit a one-out double down the right-field line and moved up to third on a wild pitch, but Brown settled down and struck out the next two batters to preserve the 3-0 lead.
The junior lefty from Lansdale, Pennsylvania then struck out the side in the bottom of the third.
In the bottom of the sixth, a fielding error and a single to left put runners on the corners for the Yellow Jackets. ODU was able to shut down the threat though as Kellen Davis struck out the next batter before Kyle Edwards, Maverick Stallings and Leite turned a 6-4-3 double play.
Old Dominion had an opportunity to add to its lead with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, however Morales tried to race home on a ball in the dirt and was tagged out.
Brown gave up just two hits and walked two batters, throwing 59 of his 96 pitches for strikes. Matela (0-1) took the loss and was responsible for four runs on two hits and three walks in one inning of work.
“We had another good start from Dylan Brown, Kellen Davis was good in relief, and Bailey’s first inning was good. We will have to get the back end of games figured out and we will,” Finwood said of his team’s pitching.
Leite finished 1-for-3 with the two RBIs, Jorge also turned in a 1-for-3 effort and scored a run, Waters went 1-for-4 with a run, and Jack Slater collected ODU’s other hit with a 1-for-4 day at the plate.
“We weren’t very good today offensively,” continued Finwood. “Very passive and took too many strikes. We have another shot at them tomorrow and need to play a full nine innings. We’ve been ahead for 15 out of the 17 innings we have played and are 0-and-2. You have to play well for all nine innings to beat a good team on the road.”
ODU and GT wrap up the series tomorrow with Game 3 scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.