Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

Boxscore

NEWARK, Del. – Freshman pitcher Rich O’Donald fired a complete game three-hitter as he led the University of Delaware baseball team to a 3-2 victory over Old Dominion during a Colonial Athletic Association contest at Bob Hannah Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

O’Donald (at right) finished the day with four strikeouts while allowing just a single earned run. With his incredible effort, he became the first Blue Hen to twirl a nine-inning complete game since Todd Ozog accomplished the feat against Temple on May 8, 2007.

Carlos Alonso backed the Blue Hen ace, extending his hitting streak to 14 games after finishing with three hits and a run scored. Kyle Davis also slammed his second home run of the season in the seventh inning to give Delaware (15-8, 4-2 CAA) a much-needed insurance run.

From the start, O’Donald looked to be in control of the game. Through the first five innings of play, the Wilmington native faced the minimum number of batters. Although his perfect game was broken up in the third, catcher Ryan Reed quickly gunned down Josh Wright after the freshman attempted to steal second.

In the bottom of the third, Delaware’s offense opened the scoring. Alonso led off the frame with a double before coming around to score after Cuneo followed with a two-base hit of his own. Although Old Dominion’s Ben Tomchick put the next two batters down in order, Reed came through with an RBI single to left that gave the Hens a two-run advantage.

ODU (7-15, 2-4) eventually scared up its first rally in the sixth after putting two on with just one out. O’Donald was up to the challenge, however, as the right-hander struck out Max Most before inducing an inning-ending pop up to second.

One inning later, the Monarchs finally got on the board as Jake McAloose opened the frame with a solo shot to right. Later, ODU put a pair of runners on base, but O’Donald once again worked out of the minor jam.

With their lead cut in half, the Blue Hens answered in the bottom of the seventh. With one-out, Davis hit a line-drive home run to left that proved to be the insurance run that Delaware needed.

After O’Donald returned to the mound in the eighth and retired the side in order for the sixth time during the game, the ODU attack made one last-ditch effort to pull out the victory.

In the ninth, McAloose reached on an error before Donnie Corsner followed with a single through the right side. Following a sacrifice bunt, O’Donald intentionally walked Chris Buss to load the bases with one out.

Although Joe Velleggia brought in McAloose with a sacrifice fly to center, leftfielder Jared Olson made a nice running grab on a liner by Austin Wright to seal the victory.

With the win, O’Donald (2-2) evened his record and improved to 2-0 at home. At Bob Hannah Stadium, he has now allowed just three earned runs in 23 innings over three quality outings.

Tomchick (1-3) was the hard-luck loser after allowing just three runs on eight hits in his eight innings on the mound.

The Blue Hens will return to action on Tuesday when the team travels to Penn for the first-round of the Liberty Bell Classic at 3 p.m.