MONTGOMERY, Ala. - T.J. McKenzie lifted a 2-1 pitch into the right alley to score Rhett Hammontree and Sam Blancato to break a late tie and secure the win for the Eagles in the early hours of Friday morning at Riverwalk Stadium, 8-6.
Old Dominion (31-25) took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning from an RBI-single by Luke Waters, then doubled the lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning with a Maverick Stallings RBI-single.
In one swing of the bat, Eagles (32-25) right fielder Blancato sent a ball over the fence in right field, bringing home Sean Smith and Jarrett Brown with him to take a 3-2 lead over ODU.
Southern's lead was short-lived as ODU's Waters knocked a three-run homer of his own to put the Monarchs back up by two scores at 5-3.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Blancato brought his fourth and fifth RBI of the night, his ninth of the tournament, back home with a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield, scoring Smith and Kent Schmidt to tie the game.
Old Dominion would not go quietly as Steven Meier would hit a solo homer to right center field in the top of the seventh to take a late 6-5 lead. However, the Eagles had yet another response in the home-half of the same inning as Schmidt dropped a bloop single into no-man's land down the left field line to plate Tate and tie the game for the second time on the night.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Monarchs turned to Jacob Gomez on his third-consecutive day of relief action, and McKenzie was able to get a hold of a 2-1 pitch, placing it in the gap in right-center to score Hammontree and Blancato on a two-RBI triple.
With the late lead, the Eagles brought Joey White back out for his third inning of relief, where he was able to shut down the final three batters after a lead-off walk, securing the win for the Eagles and guaranteeing a spot in the semifinals on Saturday.
White earned his second victory of the season with three innings of hitless, scoreless baseball. He limited free passes with only one walk while sitting down two. ODU's Vincent Bashara took his first loss of the season after giving up the go-ahead run on McKenzie's triple.
Blancato led the offense with a 3-for-4 night with a HR and five RBI, now sitting at nine RBI through two games in the tournament. Sean Smith also had a multi-hit night for Southern.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern gets a day to rest as they await the winning of Friday's JMU vs. ODU contest. On Saturday, the Eagles will take on the winner of the aforementioned game starting at 1:30 p.m. ET.
