Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Josh Wright homered and drove in five runs to help Old Dominion topple Norfolk State 20-5 on Tuesday night at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex, earning a season series split with the Spartans.

The Monarchs (16-21) scored nine runs in the first four innings to take a sizeable early lead, and the Spartans (11-13-1) could not keep up.

ODU scored three runs without benefit of a hit in the first inning off NSU starter Jordan Egan (Virginia Beach, Va.). Egan walked the first batter of the game and hit the next two, before a wild pitch scored the game's first run. A Chris Baker RBI groundout and a Chris Buss sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

NSU got a run back in the second on an RBI single by Ryan Wiggins (Hayes, Va.). But an NSU error led to another ODU run in the second, and Wright hit a three-run homer in the third for a 7-1 Monarchs' lead.

A fielder's choice grounder and another NSU miscue helped ODU increase its lead to 9-1 after four innings. The Spartans rallied in the fifth as John Rasberry (Suffolk, Va.) and Cameron Parsons (Chesapeake, Va.) hit RBI doubles and Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) drove in another run with a groundout.

But the Monarchs scored 11 runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.

Baker was 3-for-6 with three RBI for ODU. Kenney Stoneback was also 3-for-6 and drove in two runs. Buss and Austin Wright also knocked in a pair of runs apiece.

Parsons, Wiggins and Juan Herrera (Santiago, D.R.) had two hits each for the Spartans. Rasberry led the way with two RBI.

Egan was the losing pitcher after allowing seven runs, six earned, off just three hits in 2.1 innings. Phil McCarthy (1-2) got the win for ODU, allowing just one run and fanning seven in 3.1 innings of relief.

The Spartans hit the road for a three-game MEAC series at Bethune-Cookman this Saturday and Sunday in Daytona Beach, Fla.