Middle Tennessee Defeats Old Dominion, 6-5 In A Thriller

May 27, 2000

CLEMSON, SC – After committing an error that allowed Old Dominion to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning, Josh Renick singled in the winning run in the bottom of the inning to lift Middle Tennessee to a 6-5 victory over Old Dominion.

With Saturday’s loss at the Clemson Regional, Old Dominion was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament and ended its season with a 33-24-1 record.

Brad Howard, picked up the win for the Blue Raiders Dewon Brazelton started for the Blue Raiders and surrendered four runs in 7.1 innings of work. With the win, Howard improved his record to 5-0 on the year. Brian Ross was tagged with the loss for Old Dominon after pitching 0.1 of an inning and surrendering the winning run. Old Dominion starter J.D. Jackson pitched eight innings and gave up five runs on nine hits. With the loss, Ross fell to 2-4 on the season.

In the top of the second inning, Old Dominion took a 1-0 lead as Joe Troilo hit a solo homerun to left field. The home run was Troilo’s fourth of the season.

In the bottom of the second inning, Middle Tennessee bounced back to take a 2-1 lead as Kyle Thomas singled and scored on a triple to right field by former Tiger and current Blue Raider Jeff Parsons, who also the losing pitcher Friday night vs. Clemson. Parsons then scored on an infield hit by Blue Raider shortstop Wes Whitehead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Middle Tennessee struck for two more runs. With two outs, Josh Renick was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then scored on a single by Kris Lammers. Old Dominion’s fourth run of the game came in the same inning as Bryan Peck singled to score Lammers .

The score remained 4-1 until the top of the seventh when Old Dominion’s Jason Greiner singled, stole second, and then scored on an infield single by Ross Robertson.

Old Dominon tied the game in the top of the eighth inning after David Vilardi and Tim Hummel each singled and then scored on base hits from Troilo and Jared Musolf.

With the score knotted at 4-4, Peck homered in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the Blue Raiders back on top by a score of 5-4. The homerun was Peck’s 17th of the season.

With his team down 5-4 in the top of the ninth inning, Old Dominon’s Josh Ohler singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With one out in the inning, Brad Howard came in to pitch for the Blue Raiders and struck out Monarch hitter Brent Sollenberger. With two outs, David Valardi cam e to the plate and hit a routine grounder to the second baseman Renick. Renick fielded the ball cleanly but his throw sailed high of first base allowing Ohler to score and tie the game.

Middle Tennessee came to bat in the bottom of the ninth with the game tied a t 5-5. After a bas e hit by Parson and a sacrifice bunt by Whitehead, Renick singled with one out to score Parsons and clinch the victory for the Blue Raiders.

Middle Tennessee (38-22) advances to play Saturday night to face the loser of Saturday afternoon’s game between Clemson and Illinois.