NORFOLK, Va. (ODUSports.com) – Trailing 7-1 in the seventh, the No. 23 Old Dominion baseball team scored four runs in the inning and three more in the eighth, capped by a two-run homer in the eighth from Andy Garriola to hand the Monarchs an 8-7 win over Binghamton on Sunday in the final game of the three-game series.
In the seventh inning Old Dominion (5-1) began the comeback as Matt Coutney hit a grounder to first that the Binghamton (2-4) first baseman bobbled and threw past the covering pitcher Justin Rosner to allow two runs to score and make the score 7-3. Robbie Petracci followed with a booming double to bring home two more and cut the deficit to 7-5.
Kenny Levari worked a one-out walk to start the eighth and scored on an RBI triple from Carter Trice. That brought up Garriola, who crushed an 0-1 offering from Gabe Driscoll over the left center field fence to put ODU on top 8-7.
Binghamton took a 4-0 lead in the third as Cavan Tully hit a home run to put the Bearcats on the board, and BU followed with three-straight RBI singles to go up 4-0.
The Monarchs got a run back in the fourth on an RBI double from Tommy Bell that scored Garriola.
Binghamton tacked on three more runs in the seventh to take a 7-1 lead before ODU began its comeback.
Brad Dobzanski pitched a scoreless eighth to earn his first win of the year, while Noah Dean earned his first save of the year with a clean ninth, including a pair of strikeouts.
Garriola went 2-for-4 on the day with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Trice was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Joey DeChiaro pitched 2.1 innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen for the Monarchs.
With the win, ODU wins its second series in a row to start the season. ODU hits the road for the first time this season on Tuesday, March 1 for a 3 p.m. contest at VCU.
