DATE: Sunday, March 2, 1997                 TAG: 9703020219

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   48 lines

ODU'S POWER SUPPLY RUNS DRY VS. RUTGERS

As they're about to jog out the clubhouse and onto the baseball diamond of the Bud Metheny Complex, the Old Dominion Monarchs are greeted with a simple command from inside the dugout door. . .

Play hard.

Play hard. Score often. Win as often. Make the polls. For a team allegedly rebuilding, the Monarchs have little trouble assembling the components of success.

Heading into Saturday afternoon's game, a 21-9 loss to Rutgers, the Monarchs were averaging 12.7 runs per game, Including a pair of 20-run explosions against visiting St. Joseph's (25-0) and Villanova (21-2).

It's this kind of prodigious output which played a big part in ODU's recent eight-game winning streak, which then dominoed into the Monarchs' (NU)29 ranking in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll. ODU also picked up votes in the USA Today poll.

Before Saturday, the Monarchs were hitting .340 with 13 home runs. Walker - batting .450 heading in - belted a pair of home runs against Rutgers Saturday, giving him a team-high six for the season.

``It's an easy philosophy,'' Walker said. ``You see the ball, you hit the ball. If you can't hit a home run, you try for a line drive or a gapper. Home runs are a bonus.''

But the freshman outfielders have adapted much quicker than originally anticipated. Shawn Pearson had a .400 average with five triples and seven stolen bases after the Monarchs' first ten games. Joe Troilo matches Pearson's Smith High) is exceeding all expectations, with eight starts and a .269 average.

``Before I came here, I was a dead-pull hitter,'' Pearson said. ``But the coaches here taught me about taking pitches and getting 2-strike hits.''

The development of the outfielders, combined wth shortstop Tony Gsell's rare power for a middle infielder, Anthony Forelli's 18 RBIs and .381 average, a team ERA under 3.50 and staff ace Jesse James' 4-0 mark and 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio builds the early success to make the Monarchs a player in the polls again.

Despite the hot start, the Monarchs came into March more like a lamb than like their mascot lion against Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights scored in all but the second and eighth innings and staked out a 10-1 lead before the Monarchs (9-2) scored six runs in the fourth. Rutgers put the game away with a five-run seventh-inning.

The two teams combined for 30 hits.

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