March 21, 2005
NORFOLK, VA-- The Old Dominion Monarchs (14-12) play host this week tothe Tigers of Clemson (8-8) in a two-game series beginning Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
Clemson is scheduled to throw righthander Josh Kopp (0-2) Tuesday night, while ODU head coach Jerry Meyerswill counter with junior righthander Kevin Gunter (2-2) from Richland, NJ.
Through 26 games, Bryan Cipolla (Plainview, NY.) leads the Monarch regulars with a .366 batting average. He has four homeruns and 41 runs batted. Cipolla had a huge offensive week, batting .640 (16-25) with five doubles, two homers, five runsscored and 15 RBI in ODU's five games last week. The sophomore firstbaseman hadatleast two hits in each contest, including a school-record tying 6-for-6 performance witheighth RBI in the Monarchs' 18-2 win over Princeton last Friday.
Freshman infielder Chris Keenan (Chesapeake, VA.) is next at .345, while sophomore catcher Tyler Belcher (Bristol, VA.) is hitting .323. Senior outfielder Evan Chipman Raleigh, NC.) rounds out the 300 hitters a .307 and leads the team with 29 runs scored and 11 stolen bases. ODU is hitting .301 as a team.
The Tigers have won three of their last four games, including taking two ofthree against ninth ranked North Carolina. Infielder Taylor Harbin leads the Tigerswith a .373 batting average and has crossed home plate 17 times. Kris Harvey leads theTeam with five homers and 23 runs batted in. Clemson is hitting .280 as a team with a3.92 earned run average.
The two teams will also play Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ODU begins CAAplay Friday against George Mason.