The Old Dominion Monarchs have long been considered the king of the CAA. In fact, Tribe Head Coach Frank Leoni called them “the best team in the league.” On March 14, though, the Tribe took a first step towards conference superiority by dethroning the Monarchs 7-6 in an exciting game at Plumeri Park.
In a game that saw a combined 23 hits, it was the pitching performances of Pete Vernon (’08) and Sean Grieve (’08) that led the Tribe to victory. Vernon pitched eight innings, allowing six runs on 12 hits, but no runs after the fifth inning. Grieve recorded the save by working out of a bases loaded jam to end the ninth.
“Vernon is gutsy,” said Leoni. “He does that every time we give him the ball. He just goes out there and keeps competing and never gives in… He gives us a chance to win every time he takes the mound and that’s all you can ask for.”
A Tribe win looked doubtful during the top half of the ninth inning. Reliever Pat Kantakevich (’08) walked Monarchs second baseman Chris Keenan, causing Leoni to bring in Grieve from the bullpen. Grieve then proceeded to walk the next batter and then allowed pinch hitter Gerard Hall to reach on a bunt single down the third baseline.
With bases loaded and none out, Grieve threw a 1-2 fastball inside to Monarch’s right fielder Anthony Shawler, who lined the ball sharply up the middle. Grieve caught the line drive just above knee level, then threw to third baseman Tyler Stampone (’09) to record the second out of the double play.
“Luckily it was right to me and I was able to flip it to Tyler,” said Grieve, who recorded his third save on the young season. “We went to high school together, so we’ve had a lot of practice doing that.”
“I can’t claim that I thought we were going to get a line drive double play,” said Leoni. “But you need breaks like that, and good teams get breaks like that. I think that’s what we are.”
The Tribe was more than lucky defensively on the day, making several plays that helped stop Monarch rallies. Vernon and Mike Sheridan picked off two runners at first base and shortstop Lanny Stanfield (’09) completed a relay throw in the sixth inning to gun down Monarch shortstop Chris Buss at the plate. Later that inning, Ben Guez made a diving catch in center field with two outs to keep another run from scoring.
“We had great play in the field,” said Vernon. “We turned a couple double plays, Ben made that diving play in center; guys behind us had great games…We really got some help from the field.”
Offensively, the Tribe was led by left fielder Greg Maliniak (’08), who went 2-4 with a homerun. His homerun came in the bottom of the fifth inning and started a Tribe rally that resulted in five runs scored.
DH Jeff Jones (’09) also went 2-4 with a double, raising his average to .423 in only 26 at bats. Jones was joined by Tyler Stampone, Ben Guez and right fielder Robbie Nickle in the doubles department, as each of the four Tribe batters had a double on the contest. Mike Sheridan led the team with two runs scored, bringing him to a team high 28 runs scored on the season.
The game marked the first between the two schools since the Tribe took two out of three games from Old Dominion to end last season. It is the first game of a three-game series against the Monarchs this weekend.
“The way we won today, regardless of it being ODU… being able to come back and to win the way we did today was huge,” Leoni said. “Hopefully we’ve got all the momentum; hopefully it sets the tone for what were going to be doing the rest of the weekend.”