2008 Woodie Awards
Tigers miss out on sweep over ODU
Despite consistent hitting all week, TU falls at home to Monarchs
Carrie Wood
Sports | 4/13/08
After beating Old Dominion on Friday and Saturday, the Tigers fell to the Monarchs, 13-4, Sunday afternoon at John B. Schuerholz Park. Despite leaving the first inning with a three-run lead, Towson would not score again following the early-game offense.
"For the second weekend in a row, we came into Sunday with a chance to sweep and it just didn't happen," head coach Mike Gottlieb said. "They beat us convincingly. We just didn't play as well as they did today."
Heading into the bottom of the first trailing by one run, the Tigers managed to the tie the game 1-1 after a base hit by junior Matt Collins allowed sophomore Nick Natoli to score. A streak of base hits by senior Greg Furmanek, sophomore Steve Yarsinsky, and junior Gary Helmick brought the score to 4-1 at the end of the inning.
Old Dominion scored a run in the top of the second to cut their deficit to two runs. The Monarchs would rally to take the lead, 5-4, in the top of the fourth after a series of base hits by Edgar Hernandez, Chris Keenan, Jimmy Miller, Max Must and Bryan Cipolla.
The Monarchs furthered their lead on two wild pitches by junior Austin Hurd to bring the score to 8-4 in the sixth. A three-run home run in the top of the eighth by Gerard Hall brought ODU's run count to 13 and ended the scoring for the game.
The loss for Towson follows two wins against Old Dominion on Friday and Saturday, 6-3 and 12-9.
"Overall, I'm happy," Gottlieb said. "Despite their record - and I can't answer why their record isn't better - Old Dominion is a talented team. We played well Friday and we won. We came from behind yesterday and we won. Today, they played better than we did and they beat us. When you think about it, we got off to a 4-1 start but we never did score again. We just stopped hitting after that, so we really didn't play well enough to win."
Hurd, who came into the game in the sixth for relief, shared his coach's feelings but also said that he feels the team is making progress toward their goal of making the CAA tournament.
"I think we played really well," Hurd said. "It was a bit of a letdown today, because we already won the series, but I think we're going in the right direction."
The Tigers will host Delaware State in non-conference play for the last game of their nine-game home stay on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Towson will return to conference play on April 18, when they travel to Northeastern to battle the Huskies in a three-game weekend series. Hurd expressed optimism about the upcoming games.
"Hopefully we'll win [on Tuesday,]" he said. "I don't see any reason why we won't."
"For the second weekend in a row, we came into Sunday with a chance to sweep and it just didn't happen," head coach Mike Gottlieb said. "They beat us convincingly. We just didn't play as well as they did today."
Heading into the bottom of the first trailing by one run, the Tigers managed to the tie the game 1-1 after a base hit by junior Matt Collins allowed sophomore Nick Natoli to score. A streak of base hits by senior Greg Furmanek, sophomore Steve Yarsinsky, and junior Gary Helmick brought the score to 4-1 at the end of the inning.
Old Dominion scored a run in the top of the second to cut their deficit to two runs. The Monarchs would rally to take the lead, 5-4, in the top of the fourth after a series of base hits by Edgar Hernandez, Chris Keenan, Jimmy Miller, Max Must and Bryan Cipolla.
The Monarchs furthered their lead on two wild pitches by junior Austin Hurd to bring the score to 8-4 in the sixth. A three-run home run in the top of the eighth by Gerard Hall brought ODU's run count to 13 and ended the scoring for the game.
The loss for Towson follows two wins against Old Dominion on Friday and Saturday, 6-3 and 12-9.
"Overall, I'm happy," Gottlieb said. "Despite their record - and I can't answer why their record isn't better - Old Dominion is a talented team. We played well Friday and we won. We came from behind yesterday and we won. Today, they played better than we did and they beat us. When you think about it, we got off to a 4-1 start but we never did score again. We just stopped hitting after that, so we really didn't play well enough to win."
Hurd, who came into the game in the sixth for relief, shared his coach's feelings but also said that he feels the team is making progress toward their goal of making the CAA tournament.
"I think we played really well," Hurd said. "It was a bit of a letdown today, because we already won the series, but I think we're going in the right direction."
The Tigers will host Delaware State in non-conference play for the last game of their nine-game home stay on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Towson will return to conference play on April 18, when they travel to Northeastern to battle the Huskies in a three-game weekend series. Hurd expressed optimism about the upcoming games.
"Hopefully we'll win [on Tuesday,]" he said. "I don't see any reason why we won't."
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