COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kenny Levari and Kyle Battle each had two RBIs on Friday night and No. 11 overall seed Old Dominion beat Jacksonville 4-3 in a Columbia Regional opener.
The Monarchs (43-14) will face regional host and second-seeded South Carolina on Saturday. The No. 4 regional seed Dolphins (16-33) will face No. 3 seed Virginia Saturday in a loser-out game.
Battle scored on Levari’s two-run home run in the first inning and added a two-run double in the second that capped the scoring in the game.
Jacksonville had three runs on four hits in the first inning and forced a pitching change after Jesus Pacheco’s leadoff single in the second. Jacob Gomez (6-1) came on in relief and gave up one hit over 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Noah Dean got his ninth save of the season.
Tyler Santana (5-8) gave up five hits in eight innings in the complete game loss for Jacksonville. He gave up one hit after the second inning.
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