HARRISONBURG, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball completed the Sun Belt series sweep of James Madison with a 4-2 win over the Dukes on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
With the win, the Monarchs improve to 21-26 overall and 15-12 in conference play. ODU also finished tied with JMU in this year’s TowneBank Royal Rivalry and clinched a berth to the upcoming Sun Belt Championship on May 20-25 in Montgomery, Alabama.
ODU scratched across a run in the top of the first inning as Scotty Young was hit by a pitch, moved up to third on a Luke Waters single through the left side, and later scored on a Maverick Stallings sacrifice fly to right field.
The Dukes (15-37, 8-19 Sun Belt) knotted the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. After Jack Cannizzaro walked and Maddux Fleck fouled out to ODU catcher Evan Holman on a failed bunt attempt, Ike Schmidly and Ryan Dooley strung together a pair of base hits to load the bases. Wyatt Peifer then flied out to center field, allowing Cannizzaro to tag up.
The Monarchs regained control with two runs in the fifth inning. Young walked and stole second, Waters also walked, and the pair came home on a Zach Leite double to the corner in right field.
JMU looked to answer right back with two outs and runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth, but ODU starting pitcher Blake Morgan got out of the inning as Peifer flied out to center field.
ODU went ahead 4-1 in the top of the sixth. Tahraun Hammond walked and stole second, Holman also earned a base on balls, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Kainen Jorge drew a nine-pitch walk to load the bases, and Hammond scored on a Young sac fly to center field.
In the bottom of the sixth, Drew Beard Jr. walked and Reece Moody followed with a double to left center. ODU brought in Kellen Davis, but a Jack Anderson sac fly to center cut the Monarch lead to 4-2.
Neither side scored again the rest of the game. ODU had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the eighth, but Jorge lined out into a 6-4 double play. Nick Sulpizio struck out a pair and bare-handed a ground ball to his right to retire the side in order in the home half of the eighth.
Former Monarch Jackson Tone grounded into a 3-6-3 double play in the bottom of the ninth, and Stallings fielded a ground ball and threw over to Leite for the final out.
Morgan (5-3) held JMU to two runs on five hits and two walks. He recorded one strikeout in a 5.1-inning start. Sulpizio picked up his first career save after three shutout innings. He didn’t allow a hit, issued one walk, and added two strikeouts.
Leite went 1-for-4 on the day with a two RBI double and one walk. Hammond and Holman both finished 1-for-2, Kyle Edwards had a 1-for-3 day at the plate, and Waters hit 1-for-4. Young (0-for-2) drove in a run, scored twice, had one walk and stole a base, and Stallings (0-for-4) also collected an RBI.
ODU has its final midweek game of the regular season this Tuesday at the University of Richmond. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.