HAMPTON, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball had the tying run at the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but could not complete the Sun Belt series sweep of Georgia State as the Panthers held on for a 3-1 final Sunday at War Memorial Stadium.
The series finale proved to be a pitchers’ duel between ODU’s Blake Morgan and GSU’s Cole Roberts. The Monarchs (7-14, 3-3 Sun Belt) had an opportunity to do some damage in the bottom of the second inning. After Zach Leite singled through the right side, Efrain Morales hit a ball back towards Roberts. The junior right hander looked to erase Leite with the force at second, but his throw was too high for second baseman Kaleb Freeman. ODU couldn’t take advantage though as Tanner Schaedel and Kainen Jorge both flied out and Maverick Stallings went down swinging.
Morgan shut out the visitors for five innings and racked up a season high nine strikeouts. The Panthers (16-9, 4-2) looked to break through in the top of the third as CJ Blackwell led off with a double down the left-field line and reached third on a sacrifice bunt, but a ground out to short and a strikeout by Morgan kept the visitors in check.
GSU applied pressure again in the fifth with two outs and runners in scoring position after Jae Williams was hit by a pitch and Freeman doubled down the left-field line. ODU’s defense came through again however as Stallings fielded a ground ball and fired over to Schaedel at first base for the third out.
The Panthers finally got to Morgan in the sixth. With two outs, William Maginnis connected on an 0-1 pitch for a solo home run to left field. GSU then pushed across two more runs in the seventh when ODU brought in Hunter Baynes in relief. Blackwell was plunked, Williams drew a one-out walk, and the pair ran home on a Freeman double off the wall in left center field.
Morales singled through the right side to open up the bottom of the seventh and then moved up to second base on a wild pitch. Schaedel then flew out to center field and Jorge went down swinging before Stallings walked, but ODU came up empty as Tahraun Hammond flew out to right field.
The Monarchs finally plated a run in the bottom of the ninth as Leite singled to left center and scored on a Schaedel one-out double to the gap in left. ODU couldn’t get any closer as Jorge and Stallings both went down swinging to end the game.
Morgan (2-2) took the loss after allowing one run on four hits and one walk in six complete innings. Leite went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run to lead ODU at the plate. Schaedel finished 1-for-4 with the RBI double, Luke Waters and Morales also hit 1-for-4 on the day, and Stallings went 0-for-2 but walked twice.
Neither side hit well, with the Panthers turning in a combined .188 (6-for-32) clip while the Monarchs hit .156 (5-for-32) as a team.
Next up for ODU is a road game at East Tennessee State this Wednesday. First pitch at Thomas Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m.