Feb. 26, 2009
NORFOLK, VA-- The ODU Baseball Monarchs return to action for their home opener on Friday with a four-game series against the Saint Joseph's Hawks. First pitch Friday is 2 p.m.at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and will finish the series off on Sunday also at 1 p.m.
Saint Joseph's is 0-4 thus far this season after being swept in a pair of doubleheader contests at San Jose State. They are led by Matt Barnathan and Drew Smith with .400 averages, while Chris Prescott has a 1.50 ERA.
Jake McAloose leads the Monarchs early in the season batting .391 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Edgar Hernandez is second at .357. Josh Wright, Brett Harris and Austin Wrighteach have four RBI on the season.
Ben Tomchick has a 1.74 ERA with seven strikeouts in 10-plus innings of work.Brett Harris has a 3.86 ERA and is 1-0 on the season.
NOTE: Friday's game was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. The game has been moved up to 2 p.m. in anticipation of inclement weather that will be moving into the Norfolk area late Friday.
ODU is 2-4 on the season so far. They split four games at the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, NC last weekend. The Monarchs dropped a close decision to Marshall 3-2 on Friday Night. On Saturday, they topped Marshall 9-5 before falling to host Wake Forest 10-3. On Sunday, the Monarchs evened their record by routing Akron 14-4. In midweek action, ODU lost a close game at VMI 4-3 in 11 innings and fell at Longwood 8-2.