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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Backed behind a career high eight innings pitched by starter Holden Capps, Charlotte tallied a 5-2 victory over Old Dominion in Sunday’s C-USA series-finale at Hayes Stadium. With the win, the 49ers tighten the race and gain ground trying to clinch a berth in the league’s year-end tournament.

“We played really good defense and pitched at a very high level,” quipped Head Coach Loren Hibbs. “When you get that kind of defense and pitching, you’ve got a pretty good chance to win. I’m really proud of Capps and Perry today. It was a great effort all the way around.”

Charlotte (20-28, 9-15 C-USA) got on the board in the bottom of the first for the second-straight day beginning with Brett Netzer’s one-out single off the center field wall. Five pitches later, Logan Sherer brought in Netzer with his RBI single back up the middle.

In the second, an infield single by T.J. Nichting kept the inning alive for Zach Jarrett. On a 1-0 pitch, Jarrett crushed a no-doubter down the left-field line scoring Nichting on his second blast of the season. An inning later, Hunter Jones and Derek Gallello led off with back-to-back singles before Nick Daddio sacrificed both up 90 feet after his successful bunt. Reece Hampton got in on the action registering the RBI as he groundout to short scored Jones from third.

The 49ers kept the offensive pressure on the Monarchs as Sherer obliterated a 2-2 pitch to left in the fifth for his team-leading 11th long ball of the season

Old Dominion (29-18, 12-12) got the pair of runs with a Connor Myers RBI single in the sixth and a Kurt Sinnen solo home run in the eighth. Both runs scored with two outs.

Capps (4-1) went the first eight on Sunday setting his new career high allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Philip Perry came in during the ninth to strikeout two Monarchs earning his third save of the season. Offensively, Gallello led the Niners with a 3-for-4 outing while Netzer, Sherer, Nichting and Jones each had two hits apiece.

Charlotte will now take the upcoming midweek off due to final exams before traveling to UTSA this coming weekend. The final C-USA road series of the year will begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern on Friday night with live audio/stats being available through http://www.charlotte49ers.com.

NINER NOTES

• Charlotte notched their 28th double-digit hit effort of the season on Saturday and added five more multi-hit games to sit at 143 on the year.
• T.J. Nichting and Hunter Jones each slid their hit streaks to five on Sunday while Brett Netzer and Derek Gallello moved theirs to three.
• Netzer led the Niners on the weekend hitting a whopping .727 going 8-for-11 with a double and four runs scored. The 49ers hit .317 as a team in the weekend. Gallello hit .545 (6-for-11) and Jones hit .417 (5-for-12) adding to the totals.
• Adding his two hits on Sunday, Sherer now has 180 in his career and crossed over the 100-RBI career plateau during the weekend.

C-USA TOURNAMENT RACE

• With Rice and Marshall finishing off sweeps of FIU and UAB over the weekend, the Niners are now tied with FIU for ninth (holding the tiebreaker over FIU) at 9-15. The 49ers are just one game back of UAB in the eighth spot after the weekend and could see WKU make that a tie for seventh in Southern Miss gets the sweep on Sunday. If the Golden Eagles beat the Hilltoppers on Sunday, that would temporarily give the Niners the tiebreaker over WKU as well.