HARRISONBURG, Va. – Luke Waters is having himself a weekend! The senior outfielder hit 5-for-5 on the day and homered twice as Old Dominion Baseball won the Sun Belt series with a 9-6 victory over James Madison on Saturday afternoon.
It marked the second five-hit game of his career as he added three runs and three RBIs to his totals. It was also the third career multi-home run game and the second this season for the Laurel, Delaware native.
Waters is hitting 8-for-11 (.727) with a 1.364 slugging percentage and a .750 on-base percentage through the first two games this weekend.
The Monarchs (20-26, 14-12 Sun Belt) also got a strong outing from starting pitcher Dylan Brown, who improved to 4-2 after shutting out the Dukes (15-36, 8-18) for the first six innings. He scattered eight hits, didn’t walk anyone, and struck out five in seven innings pitched. JMU finally got to him with a three-run home run in the seventh. Frankie Wright earned his first save of the season after retiring two of the three batters he faced and allowing one hit.
Kyle Edwards (2-for-5) stole two bases on as many attempts, Kainen Jorge (2-for-6) doubled, drove in two runs and scored once, and Zach Leite (1-for-4) also doubled with two RBIs, one run, and one walk. Tahraun Hammond (2-for-3) finished with one run, one RBI, a walk, and a hit by pitch, and Kyle Edwards (2-for-5) stole two bases on as many attempts.
ODU combined to hit 14-for-41 (.341) in the game, to include 4-for-13 (.308) with two outs and 5-for-16 (.313) with runners in scoring position. The Monarchs were two hits shy of tying their season high.
After Jorge led off the first with a single through the left side, Waters put the Monarchs ahead 2-0 with a line drive home run to left field. He then made it a 3-0 lead with a one-out solo home run in the top of the fifth inning.
Meanwhile ODU’s defense played well behind Brown. In the bottom of the second, Edwards backhanded a ground ball deep in the hole and fired in time to get the out at first. Later in the fourth, JMU had a chance to pull even with two outs and runners in scoring position, but Scotty Young made a leaping catch in left field to keep the Dukes off the scoreboard.
The Monarchs pushed across another four runs on as many hits in the seventh to build a 7-0 advantage. Young led off with a base hit to right field and Waters followed with a single to left. The pair then raced home as Leite doubled to the gap in right center. Maverick Stallings then drew a walk, Leite came around on a Hammond single to center field, and Stallings scored on a wild pitch.
JMU finally broke up the shutout in the home half of the seventh. After Brown plunked Ike Schmidly and Wyatt Peifer, Coleman Calabrese hit the first pitch he saw over the wall in left field, trimming the ODU lead to 7-3.
The home team got another run back in the eighth when Jack Anderson was hit by a pitch, moved up to second on a wild pitch, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a Maddux Fleck ground out to short.
ODU went back up by five, 9-4 with two runs in the top of the ninth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Jorge doubled through the left side.
JMU loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a hit batter and a couple of walks. Hammond snagged a line drive for the second hit, but a Jack Guerrero hit back up the middle brought in two runs and cut the ODU lead to 9-6. The rally fell short though as Fleck grounded out to Hammond for the final out.
ODU will look to complete the series sweep of the Dukes when the teams return to Eagle Field tomorrow. First pitch for the series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.