NORFOLK, Va. – Some early offense and 12 combined strikeouts between Darin Kuskie and Bailey Matela helped Old Dominion baseball take Game One, in this week’s TowneBank Royal Rivalry series versus James Madison.
Kuskie (4-7) held the Dukes (20-31, 10-18 Sun Belt) to just one run on two hits and two walks. The junior right hander out of Damascus, Maryland struck out six of the 19 batters faced in a five-inning start. Matela picked up his second save of the season after tossing 3.1 shutout innings in relief. The Norfolk native did not allow a hit, walked one, and struck out six, a new career high for the left-hander. Patrick Johnson also came out of the bullpen, allowing three hits in 0.2 innings pitched.
“We pitched really well today,” said ODU head coach Chris Finwood. “Kuskie and Matela were really good for us and we did enough early to get the lead. We need to be better offensively for sure. It was a series opening win for us.”
Will Johnson, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week, hit 2-for-3 with one run scored, one RBI, and one hit by pitch. Macaddin Dye had ODU’s other multi-hit effort, finishing 2-for-4 with a run. Scotty Young, Efrain Morales, and Nick Felton each hit 1-for-2 while Maverick Stallings and Tyler Zedalis both doubled and contributed 1-for-4 outings.
After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning for Kuskie, the Monarchs (28-24, 14-14) quickly loaded the bases with three straight singles by Johnson, Young, and Morales. Leite brought Johnson home with a ground out to second base, and Young pushed the lead to 2-0 as he scored on a Stallings ground out to short.
ODU loaded the bases again in the second as Zedalis hit a ground rule double to right center field, Dye singled to left, and Felton walked. The Dukes turned a 6-4-3 double play, but Zedalis scored on the play to put the Monarchs up, 3-0.
JMU broke through in the top of the fourth inning. After Ike Schmidly popped up to first base, Reece Moody singled through the left side of the Monarchs’ defense and then stole second. Josiah Seguin went down swinging for the second out, but Moody was waved home on a Clay Thompson base hit through the left side, cutting ODU’s lead to 3-1.
The Monarchs answered right back with another two runs on three hits in the home half of the fourth. After back-to-back one-out hits by Dye and Felton, the Dukes brought in reliever Holden McKinney and Johnson greeted him with an RBI single back up the middle. The Silver and Blue then went up 5-1 as Felton scored on a squeeze bunt by Young.
The Dukes threatened in the top of the sixth. With one out, Moody singled through the right side but was erased when he was hit by a Seguin ground ball. Thompson singled through the right side and ODU brought in Matela with two on and two outs. Following a double steal, both runners were left stranded as Matela fooled Jack Guerrero on a 1-2 pitch.
In the seventh inning, Johnson was hit by pitch and moved up to second on another sac bunt by Young. Morales worked a six-pitch walk and both runners moved into scoring position as Leite grounded out to short. They were left stranded though as Stallings went down looking.
Matela struck out three of four batters he faced in the eighth. In the ninth, he retired the first two batters he faced before JMU’s Conner Worth reached when TJ Aiken couldn’t squeeze a line drive to left field. Jack Cannizzaro then grounded out to second to end the game.
ODU outhit JMU, 9-5, but also committed three errors. The Monarchs combined to hit .310 (9-for-29) on the night, including a .333 clip (5-for-15) with runners on.
Up Next
The series continues tomorrow with a 3 p.m. start at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex. The game will mark Senior Day for the Monarchs, and they will recognize Kellen Davis, Evan Holman, Ethan Hubbell, Cash Jay, Patrick Johnson, Zach Leite, Bailey Matela, Connor Schumann, Jack Slater, Maverick Stallings, Tyler Stott, and Scotty Young in a pregame ceremony.