NORFOLK, Va. – Maverick Stallings homered twice and Old Dominion baseball rallied for a 7-5 midweek win over Richmond on Tuesday night at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex.
“It was a good ball game and we hung in there and scored five runs in the last three innings to come back and get the win,” said ODU head coach Chris Finwood. “Maverick Stallings had a big day for us at the plate and Patrick Johnson really threw the ball well for us at the end.
ODU starting pitcher Chris Cavalcante retired the Spiders (27-20) in order in the first inning, but got into some trouble in the top of the second. Richmond’s Dylan Winebrenner led off with a single through the right side of the defense, Trevor Dosenbach doubled down the left-field line, and Ryan Recio walked to load the bases. Jackson Kraemer opened the scoring with an RBI single to center field, and Noah Harvey drove in two more runs with a base hit through the left side of the infield as UofR grabbed an early 3-0 lead.
Maverick Stallings put the Monarchs (24-23) on the board with a leadoff home run in the second inning, his 10th of the season. Richmond countered with a Ryan Recio sac fly in the top of the third, but ODU got the run back in the bottom of the inning as Efrain Morales reached on a fielding error, stole second base, and raced home on a Stallings base hit to center field.
UofR went up 5-2 with another run in the fifth. Winebrenner and Recio both walked to put two on with two away, and Kraemer scored Winebrenner with a single to shallow center field.
Old Dominion pulled even, 5-5 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Stallings led off the frame with his second long ball of the game. It marks his third multi-home run game in his three seasons as a Monarch. Scotty Young walked and reached second when Jack Slater grounded out to first. A wild pitch allowed him to take third base, and he scored on a Nick Felton fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt. Later in the inning, Felton scored from third on a wild pitch to tie the game.
The Monarchs jumped ahead, 6-5 with another run in the seventh inning. Stallings walked and Young sacrificed himself to move Stallings up to second base. Brody Connors pinch hit for Slater and gave ODU the lead with a single through the right side of the Spiders’ defense. The Silver and Blue then got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to take a 7-5 lead. Morales led off with a double to the gap in left and crossed the plate on a Zach Leite single through the right side.
Reliever Patrick Johnson then struck out the side in the top of the ninth to end the game.
Stallings finished 3-for-3 with the two homers, three runs, three RBIs, and a pair of walks. Morales (1-for-3) doubled, scored twice, and also walked twice. Leite went 1-for-2 with one RBI and was hit by pitch two times, and Connors contributed a 1-for-1 outing effort with the one RBI.
Johnson improved to 3-1 after shutting out the Spiders for three complete innings out of the bullpen. He didn’t give up a hit, walked one, and struck out five of the nine batters he faced. Cavalcante was responsible for three runs on four hits and one walk. He recorded one strikeout through two innings in what marked his first collegiate start. Also making appearances for the Monarchs were Cole Lanford and Jayce Park.
ODU went 3-0 against UofR this season and improves to 60-42 in the all-time series. The Monarchs hit a combined .273 (9-for-33) on the night and held a slight edge in hits, 9-8. ODU also stole five bags, one shy of matching their season high. They’ve also won four of their last five games.
Up Next
ODU resumes Sun Belt action with a conference series at No. 8 Coastal Carolina this weekend. Friday’s series opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and Sunday’s finale will have a 1 p.m. start. CCU has not announced a start time for Saturday’s game.