The Old Dominion Monarchs scored two runs in the seventh inning to pull away in a one-run game and went on to defeat the VMI Keydets, 8-5, in non-conference baseball action Tuesday night in Norfolk, Va.
The Keydets (4-7) had rallied from a 6-2 deficit to pull within 6-5 in the fourth, but ODU (9-7) relievers Michael Rienerth and Jake Josephs did not allow the Keydets a hit over the next three innings. A RBI single by Josh Eldridge and an infield out off the bat of Nick Walker then drove home the two insurance runs in the seventh, and the Keydets could not draw any closer the rest of the way.
Rienerth (1-0) picked up the win via scorer’s decision, as he pitched two innings and allowed just two walks. Sam Sinnen pitched 1 1/3 innings and picked up his third save.
Ryan Bennett (0-1) took the loss, as he lasted just 2/3 of an inning and was charged with six runs, all earned. The VMI bullpen, however, led by true freshman Matthew Eagle, pitched their team back into the game by allowing just two baserunners over the middle 5 1/3 innings. In fact, ODU went 19 consecutive hitters without recording a base hit against VMI relievers before Eldridge’s single off Jonathan Kelley in the seventh.
The Keydets struck first when Ray Lopez drilled a hard ground ball just fair down the third base line for a two-out, two-run double in the first inning, putting the visitors up, 2-0.
The lead was short lived, as ODU plated six runs in the home half of the inning, helped by two walks, two wild pitches and a pair of run-scoring double steals. Eagle relieved Bennett with two outs in the inning and gave up the second of those plays, as well as a RBI single to Jason McMurray to make it a 6-2 game. That would be the last ODU hit until the seventh inning, a stretch that included 4 2/3 innings of one-hit, one-walk and five-strikeout baseball from Eagle, pitching in his hometown and making his collegiate debut.
The Keydets got a run back in the second inning on a Will Malbon RBI single, and cut the deficit to one in the fourth on a Thomas Stallings RBI double and a Drew Bryan sacrifice fly.
The Monarchs threatened in the sixth, but Jack Gomersall struck out McMurray to end the inning and eventually set the stage for the ODU rally in the seventh. The Keydets did bring the tying run to the plate in the eighth, but Drew Bryan struck on a heatedly-disputed checked swing to end the inning.
Offensively, the Keydets were paced by Will Connerley’s two-hit night and David Geary’s three-walk effort, while Eldridge, Connor Myers and Taylor Ostrich had a pair of hits for ODU.
VMI baseball will return to action Wednesday, when the Keydets and Monarchs conclude their two-game midweek series in Norfolk. Action will get underway at 6 p.m.
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