NORFOLK, Va. – Led by a strong pitching performance from junior Drew Permison, the Tigers (13-28, 7-10) overcame a late rally from Old Dominion University to edge the Monarchs (17-26, 5-9) by a 6-5 margin in 12 innings at the Bud Metheny Complex on Saturday afternoon.
The win allowed the Tigers to avenge a 9-1 loss in the series opener on Friday night and even the weekend series at one game each.
Permison pitched 5.2 innings of relief and allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out seven ODU batters while walking three as he upped his record to 4-3 on the season.
After the Monarchs tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extra innings, the Tigers earned the victory in the top of the 12th inning when junior Chris Wychock singled through the left side to score junior Nick Natoli for the eventual game-winning run.
Permison retired the Monarchs in order in the bottom of the inning to secure the Tigers' second victory in their last three games.
The Monarchs took a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, sophomore Chris Baker drove in a pair of runs with a double to right centerfield.
In the top of the third inning, the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 2-1 when sophomore Ben Winter led off the inning by blasting his first home run of the season, a solo shot to right field.
But, the Monarchs answered in the bottom of the fifth inning when senior Jake McAloose hit a solo home run with two outs in the inning to regain the two-run advantage.
The Tigers tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning. After Wychock doubled to center field with two outs, junior Steve Rice hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast to left field to even the score.
Then, Towson took its first lead of the game at 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning when Winter scored on a two-out single by senior Kevin Collins.
The Tigers upped the cushion to 5-3 in the ninth inning when Natoli singled up the middle to score Winter, who had doubled to center field with two outs.
However, the Tigers were unable to hold the lead as the Monarchs scored twice in the bottom half of the inning to force extra innings. With two outs in the frame, Baker blasted a two-run home run off Permison to left field to even the score at 5-5 and set up the Tigers' extra-inning heroics.
While Permison led the Tigers with his pitching effort, Winter paced the Tigers' 17-hit attack with three hits and three runs scored. Natoli, Wychock and Rice also had three hits in the victory while Collins went two-for-five with an RBI.
Baker led Old Dominion in a losing effort by going three-for-six with four runs batted in and a run scored. Sophomore Brandon Smith suffered the loss for the Monarchs, allowing two runs on seven hits in five innings.
The Tigers and the Monarchs will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday afternoon with a single game at 2 p.m.
TIGER TIDBITS: The Tigers played in their third extra-inning game of the season and are now 2-1 in extra innings … It was the Tigers' longest game of the season, surpassing a pair of ten-inning affairs … Junior Austin Harclerode extended his hitting streak to 13 straight games with a single in the second inning … Wychock leads the Tigers with 19 multi-hit games this year, including six three-hit outings.
