NORFOLK, Va. (ODUSports.com) – The No. 25 Old Dominion baseball team shut out No. 15 Charlotte, 10-0 on Sunday afternoon to win its series over the 49ers at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. Carter Trice delivered a walk-off home run to end the contest in seven innings.
After winning three of the four contests in Norfolk, ODU now sits just one game behind C-USA East division leader Charlotte (31-14, 18-6 C-USA).
"Charlotte is a really good ball club. They put it on us at their place last weekend and I couldn't be more proud of our guys," ODU head coach Chris Finwood expressed. "Charlotte gave us our first conference series loss and we gave them theirs this weekend. Our last two games, I don't think I've seen an ODU team play much better than that. All the way through, pitching, defense, big hits, and to beat them 24-2 in the last two games is pretty special. I couldn't be prouder of the guys they came out here to play and were a bunch of ball players this weekend."
ODU (31-11, 17-7 C-USA) picked up where it left off, putting up a seven-spot in the first inning. Senior Kyle Battle led off with a single, and Kenny Levari singled, scoring Battle on a Charlotte error. Carter Trice walked before Andy Garriola notched a base hit to score Levari. ODU broke open the game when catcher Brock Gagliardi hammered a three-run homer. Matt Coutney walked, and Tommy Bell sent a two-out longball out of the Bud to give ODU a 7-0 advantage after one.
ODU tacked on a run each in the third and fifth innings. With the 10-run rule in effect, Trice blasted a solo homer to right field to end the ball game, 10-0.
Ryne Moore tossed his first complete game of 2021, fanning seven batters and allowing just four hits. The junior picked up his fifth win of the season.
"Ryne was on point today," said Finwood. "He was locating all three of his pitches. In the middle of the game, he started throwing the change up a little more. I thought it was really effective. Our guys made some great plays behind him. Ryne and Hunter were both outstanding in their last two starts."
For the day, Levari went 3-for-5, while Battle went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Next Up
ODU will hit the road to face UTSA in a four-game series in San Antonio from May 7-9.
