NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion baseball dug itself a 5-0 hole after four and a half innings and the Monarchs dropped their Sun Belt series opener to No. 8 Southern Miss, 10-4 on Thursday night at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex.
The Golden Eagles (22-8, 6-4 Sun Belt) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After a couple of one-out singles by Seth Smith and Kyle Morrison, Davis Gillespie brought everyone home with a deep fly to left field. Another three base hits by Matthew Russo, Ben Higdon, and Drey Barrett led to another run for the visitors.
USM went up 4-0 in the second inning when Joey Urban singled up the middle, took second on a Smith sacrifice bunt, and was waved home on a Morrison single to the gap in left. The Golden Eagles threatened again in the fourth. Tucker Stockman reached on a fielding error, advanced to second on a ground out, and reached third on a Smith single to third base. ODU got out of the jam though as the Monarchs (13-16, 3-7) turned a 1-6-3 double play.
In the home half of the frame, Efrain Morales singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but was left stranded. Gillespie then led off the top of the fifth with a homer to left, swelling the Golden Eagle lead to 5-0.
Maverick Stallings countered with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning. After Grayson Sparr singled and Will Johnson walked, Sparr moved to third on a TJ Aiken fielder’s choice and raced home on a Morales base hit through the left side of the defense.
USM responded with a Smith RBI double in the sixth inning to take a 6-2 lead. In the seventh, a two-run home run by Russo and a sac fly by Stockman saw the Golden Eagles pull away, 9-2. Old Dominion got a run back in the bottom of the seventh as Nick Felton hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line and came around on a Zach Leite single to shallow left field.
The Golden Eagles went up 10-3 on a Russo sac fly in the eighth, and the Monarchs rounded out the scoring with one run in the ninth. Felton reached on a USM fielding error and moved up to third base on an Aiken single through the right side. Morales then collected another RBI with a ground out back to the pitcher. USM retired the next two batters however as Leite lined out to short and Brody Connors fouled out to first.
Morales finished the night 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and a walk. Tyler Zedalis went 2-for-2 with one walk, and Aiken (2-for-5) had ODU’s other multi-hit effort as he doubled and scored a run.
Darin Kuskie (2-5) took the loss after allowing five runs on 11 hits and one walk. He struck out three in the five-inning start.
Up Next
The two teams continue the series tomorrow with a 3 p.m. scheduled first pitch.