NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Old Dominion entered the night 0-2 against ranked opponents in 2023, but the Monarchs got their series with No. 17 Coastal Carolina out to a good start.
ODU smashed four home runs, including three in a big third inning, as the Monarchs topped the Chanticleers, 8-5, on Friday night at Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. It marks their first win over a ranked team this season.
"I thought our guys, competitively, were good tonight," Old Dominion head coach Chris Finwood said. "It's something we talked about all week, just a competitive spirit and a little bit more fight in us and I thought they came out here and really competed well tonight."
Early on it looked as though Coastal may run away with the game. Caden Bodine got the Chanticleers on the board first with a first inning solo home run and the visitors added two runs in the second frame to take a 3-0 lead.
That all changed in the third. Chris Dengler and Luke Waters began the inning with back-to-back solo blasts to pull the Monarchs to with a run. Later in the frame, Alex Bouche delivered a two run home run to push ODU in front, 4-3. Tyler Wheeler capped off the scoring in the inning with an RBI double, giving ODU a 5-3 lead.
Coastal wasn't going away quietly. The Chanticleers tied the game back up with two runs in the fifth, but once again the silver and blue had a response. Jake Ticer's RBI double in the Monarchs' half of the frame put Old Dominion back on top, the first of two runs the hometown squad would score in the inning. Kenny Lavari's solo home run in the seventh rounded out the scoring.
ODU improved to 24-9 on the season, 9-4 in Sun Belt play. While it was only one game, grabbing a victory over a top 25 squad is big.
"College athletes play better when they're confident and it gets you feeling a little bit better about yourselves," Finwood noted. "It's a long season, it's one game, puts you tied with them, so now we get to play again tomorrow for first place again."
The two teams return to action on Saturday with a 4:00 PM scheduled first pitch.
