NORFOLK, Va. – After four shutout innings by starter Jackson Okonkwo, reliever Nick Sulpizio shut the door on No. 8 Coastal Carolina as Old Dominion baseball won the Sun Belt series with a 9-2 final in Sunday’s rubber match.
“The last two days we really played good baseball against a really good team,” said ODU head coach Chris Finwood. “The guys were very tough-minded and competed their tails off. Really happy for them and all the Monarchs!”
Okonkwo frustrated the Chanticleers (34-17, 20-7 Sun Belt) in the early going, working around a leadoff walk in the first inning. He retired the side in order with three straight ground outs in the second inning, stranded a pair of runners in the third, and recorded a pair of strikeouts in the fourth.
Meanwhile, the Monarchs (27-24, 13-14) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Will Johnson homered on the second pitch of the game, his fourth long ball of the season. ODU manufactured another three runs in the third inning after loading the bases with one away. Efrain Morales reached on a fielder’s choice, and an error by CCU starter Cameron Flukey allowed Macaddin Dye to come home on the play. Zach Leite and Maverick Stallings followed with back-to-back RBI singles as the Silver and Blue pulled ahead, 4-0.
Johson drove in another run in the top of the fourth. With two outs and Dye standing on second base, Johnson hit an 0-2 pitch to right center to put ODU up, 5-0.
The hosts finally scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a pair of one-out walks by Rex Watson and Trace Mazon, Jackson Winer singled to left field to cut into the ODU lead, 5-1. Old Dominion brought in Sulpizio, and the junior from Cherry Hill, New Jersey recorded back-to-back strikeouts looking to prevent any further damage.
ODU got the run back in the top half of the seventh. Morales led off the frame with a base hit to center field. After Leite lined out to short, Morales reached second base on a Stallings ground out to short and ran towards third on a TJ Aiken fielder’s choice ball towards third base. The ball got away from third baseman Walker Mitchell, and the error allowed Morales to trot home.
Coastal Carolina answered right back with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Leadoff batter Ty Barrango was hit by a pitch before Dean Mihos and Mitchell both singled to load the bases with one out. CCU trimmed ODU’s lead to 6-2 as Watson reached on a fielder’s choice with Barrango scoring on the play.
In the eighth inning, Dye and Felton put together a couple of base hits before Johnson moved them into scoring position with a sac bunt. Dye tagged and scored on a Scotty Young sacrifice fly to right field, and Felton scored from third on a Morales single through the left side of the Coastal defense. The Monarchs tacked on one more run in the ninth as Stallings scored from second base on a Felton single through the left side.
After conceding the run in the seventh, Sulpizio retired seven in a row to end the game. He punctuated the victory with a strikeout looking.
Johnson (3-for-4) homered, drove in two runs, scored two more, and added a walk and a sacrifice hit to his totals. Dye turned in a 3-for-5 outing with three runs, Felton went 2-for-4 with one run, one RBI and a sac bunt, and Morales finished 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI.
Sulpizio improved to 2-1 after holding the Chanticleers to one run on two hits in 3.2 innings pitched. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out six. Okonkwo scattered three hits, walked one, and struck out three in the no decision. Also making appearances were Patrick Johnson and Bailey Matela.
This marks ODU’s third ranked win of the season. The Monarchs defeated then-No. 8 Southern Miss, 10-8 on April 3 and beat the Chanticleers, 6-3 on Saturday. It’s also ODU’s first series win over a Top 10 team since the Monarchs won two of three games at No. 7 Southern Miss on May 6-8, 2022.
Old Dominion also outhit Coastal Carolina, 13-6 and had the leadoff batter reach base five times. The Monarchs hit a combined .342 (13-for-38) on the day, including .375 (6-for-16) with two outs, .348 (8-for-23) with runners on, and .455 (5-for-11) with runners in scoring position.
Johnson, the junior shortstop from Allen, Texas, hit .643 (9-for-14) for the series, adding a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage. He hit the one home run, doubled twice, scored five runs, had four RBIs, walked once, and added one sac bunt. On defense, he posted a .909 fielding percentage with six putouts and four assists.
The Chanticleers had not lost a conference series since they dropped two games at Troy on March 22-23 last year.
Up Next
ODU will round out the regular season with a final Sun Belt series against James Madison this week at home. The TowneBank Royal Rivalry matchup will begin with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Thursday. The Monarchs and Dukes will play at 3 p.m. on Friday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday.