TROY, Ala. – Troy made things interesting with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, but Old Dominion Baseball held on to take the Sun Belt Conference opener, 10-8 on Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field.
The Monarchs (9-7, 1-0 Sun Belt) took a 10-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth. ODU reliever Kellen Davis retired Troy’s Aaron Piasecki, but Jimmy Janicki then homered to left field to get the hosts to within two. Troy’s next two batters both grounded out to second though as Old Dominion secured the road win.
“Any time you win down here [is great], it’s a hard place to play,” said ODU head coach Chris Finwood. “I thought our guys battled. We had the pitching thing in the first inning, we were able to minimize some damage, and we got some big hits.”
The Trojans (6-11, 0-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their first turn at the plate. Josh Pyne hit a one-out double down the left-field line and Aaron Piasecki walked to put two on for the hosts. ODU starter Ryan Sheehy didn’t look comfortable after issuing the walk, and the Monarchs made a call to the bullpen for Patrick Johnson. Troy’s Jimmy Janicki greeted him with a three-run home run to left.
ODU responded with four runs in the top of the second. Maverick Stallings hit a leadoff single through the left side of Troy’s defense and Grayson Sparr reached on a hit through the right side. Scotty Young then plated Stallings with a double down the right-field line, cutting the Trojan lead to 3-1. Cash Jay drew a six-pitch walk to put two Monarchs on with one out. After TJ Aiken went down swinging, Will Johnson doubled off the wall in right field, scoring Young, Sparr, and Jay for a 4-3 ODU lead.
The Monarchs tacked on another run as Tyler Zedalis led off the third inning with a double to left field and came around on a Sparr two-out single back up the middle. Sparr stole second before Young hit a ground ball to short. Initially called out on the field on what was a close play at first, the call was upheld as ODU lost a challenge. Troy then pulled back to within a run, 5-4 as Josh Pyne hit a big fly to left to lead off the home half of the inning.
In the fourth, Jay was hit by a pitch and Aiken doubled to right field as ODU quickly had runners in scoring position with no outs. Troy brought in Noah Thigpen, but Jay scored on a Johnson ground out to second base and Aiken tagged from third on a Zach Leite sacrifice fly to center field as the Monarchs went up 7-4. Zedalis singled and Stallings walked as ODU looked to continue the damage, but Troy got out of the inning with a force out at second base.
The Trojans threatened with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth. After Nolan Book struck out swinging, Sean Darnell singled to right field but was erased when Drew Nelson reached on a fielder’s choice. ODU reliever Ben Tanton then plunked Steven Meier and walked Josh Pyne to run the bags full, but he got out of the inning as Aiken squeezed a fly ball to the gap in right.
After Tanton retired the Trojans in order in the fifth, Aiken reached on a fielding error on a ground ball hit towards the Troy second baseman, who was in the shift. Johnson moved Aiken up to second on a sacrifice bunt and Leite singled to short. Aiken then stole third, and Zedalis hit a 2-2 pitch 345 feet over the wall in left field for a three-run blast. His fourth home run of the season pushed the Monarchs’ lead to 10-4.
“I thought Tyler Zedalis, our cleanup hitter, had a big day for us,” added Finwood. “He was right in the middle of everything that we did, and you need days like that to win on the road.”
Troy got back two runs in the bottom of the sixth. The hosts quickly loaded the bases after Jayce Park walked the first two batters and gave up an infield hit to second base. The lead runner scored as Meier hit a ground ball to Johnson at short and he stepped on second for the force out. The Trojans then pulled to within 10-6 on a Pyne sac fly to center field.
Park retired the Trojans in order in the home half of the seventh. With two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the eighth, Davis gave up an RBI double to Pyne as the home team cut into the ODU lead, 10-7. Pyne drove the ball to the wall in right, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch for a triple.
“They’re a good offensive team, and they’ve played such a good schedule,” continued Finwood. “We knew they were much better than what the record says, and playing down here is one of the toughest places to play in the conference.”
Eight different Monarchs recorded a hit. Zedalis finished 3-for-5 with a three-run home run, a double, and two runs scored. Aiken (2-for-5) doubled, scored twice, and stole a bag. Macaddin Dye (2-for-5) doubled, Sparr (2-for-5) had one run and one RBI, Young (1-for-2) contributed an RBI double and scored a run, and Johnson (1-for-4) also doubled and drove in four runs.
Johnson (1-0) picked up the win after throwing 2.2 innings in relief. He allowed two runs on five hits and recorded one strikeout.
ODU outhit Troy, 13-11 and both teams left seven runners on base.
Up Next
The series continues tomorrow with a 4:33 p.m. ET first pitch.