HAMPTON, Va. – A couple of two-out doubles from Evan Holman and Maverick Stallings and strong relief pitching by Ethan Hubbell and Kellen Davis helped Old Dominion Baseball defeat Marshall, 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
The Sun Belt series is now tied at a game apiece with the rubber match scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday. The Monarchs improved to 16-26 overall and 11-12 in conference play with the win, while the Herd falls to 25-23 with a 10-13 mark against league opponents.
Marshall’s AJ Havrilla opened the scoring with a two-run home run down the left-field line in the top of the third inning. ODU then got a run back in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to 2-1. After Holman was hit by a pitch, Kainen Jorge smacked a ball into the left-field corner. Holman was waved home on the play and beat out the throw to the plate.
The Herd countered with another two-run blast in the top of the fourth, this one a line drive from Nolan Wilson that cleared the wall just left of the scoreboard and gave the visitors a 4-1 lead.
ODU didn’t need long to catch up though. Stallings, TJ Aiken, and Kyle Edwards all walked to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Holman then brought them all home with a double down the left-field line. A wild pitch allowed Holman to move up to third base, but Jorge went down swinging as the teams were knotted at 4-4 after four complete innings.
The Monarchs jumped ahead 5-4 in the fifth when Luke Waters singled to center field and came around on a Stallings double to left center.
After ODU starting pitcher Dylan Brown retired the side in order in the sixth, he handed the ball over to Hubbell in the seventh. The junior from Camas, Washington bookended a couple of singles with a pair of strikeouts, then stranded the two runners with a fly out to left. Davis took over from there, recording a couple of strikeouts in the eighth and another in the ninth to help lock up the win.
Brown (3-2) picked up the win after allowing four runs on six hits and two walks. He racked up seven strikeouts in six innings of work. Davis picked up his third save of the season and didn’t give up a hit in two innings pitched.
Jorge finished 2-for-4 with an RBI double, Holman went 1-for-2 with a three-RBI double and one run scored, and Stallings hit 1-for-3 with an RBI double, one run and a walk.