NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion Monarchs scored eight of the game's final nine runs, and went on to defeat the VMI Keydets, 8-3, in baseball action Wednesday night at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton, Va.
With the Keydets (6-10) leading 2-0, ODU (6-10) scored twice in the third inning, runs charged to Keydet starter Adam Lopez but scored off the Keydet bullpen. The Keydets retook the lead in the fourth, scoring on a Chase Worthington sacrifice fly, but a two-run double by Michael Perez gave the Monarchs the lead for good, 4-3. ODU then tacked on an additional run in the fifth, and pulled away with three in the seventh to account for the final margin.
Andrew Deal (0-1) took the loss as the first pitcher out of the Keydet bullpen, as he was charged with three runs (two earned) on six hits in 2 1/3 innings. Donald Engler (1-0) earned the victory for ODU with two innings of scoreless relief.
The Keydets jumped out to a first-inning lead for the second straight day, as sparkplug center fielder Gary LeClair led off with an infield hit. He then stole second, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a passed ball, putting VMI up, 1-0.
VMI added a run in the second, as Michael Donovan led off with a walk and moved up on a passed ball. He then went to third on a wild pitch, and Brandon Diamond plated him with a RBI groundout, extending the Keydet lead to 2-0.
Lopez, meanwhile, sailed through the first two innings, allowing just a pair of singles and hitting as high as 94 MPH on the radar gun during his first outing in over a year. He did, however, ran into trouble in the third. A single and a wild pitch put a runner on second, and after a strikeout, Lopez walked Brent Frazier to put two runners on. Shawn Sizemore followed with an RBI single, ending Lopez's season debut and bringing on Deal. One batter later, a wild pitch plated the tying run and the score was knotted, 2-2.
The Keydets retook the lead in the fourth, as Jacob Morley led off with a single to center and Donovan followed with another single. A passed ball moved both runners up, and Worthington drove Morley home with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2, Keydets.
ODU took the lead for good in the fourth, as the first three batters reached on singles, two of them of the infield variety. Perez then followed with his two-run double, and a third run nearly scored on the play, but a LeClair to Donovan to Andrew Montague relay cut down the runner at the plate, keeping the Keydets within a run at 4-3. Brazier than struck out, and the next batter, Kenneth Belgrave, singled to right. Morley charged the ball and threw a strike to Montague at the plate, cutting down Perez at home for the third out of the inning.
ODU added a run in the fifth, scoring on the back end of a delayed steal, and held that lead into the seventh. That inning started with a Belgrave walk, and he moved up on an infield out. Michael Devine relieved, but the next three hitters would single, leading to the three final ODU runs.
In his first outing since March 4 of last year, Lopez went 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He struck out two and walked one. ODU starter Connor Overton, meanwhile, was charged with three runs (one earned) in 3 2/3 innings of work. The Monarchs had three players post two hits apiece, while the Keydets were paced offensively by Rob Dickinson, who was 2 for 3 on the night.
VMI baseball will return to action Friday, opening conference play by taking on UNC Asheville in Asheville, N.C. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
