March 12, 2009
NORFOLK, VA-- The Monarchs return to action at home on Friday with a four-game series against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights out of the Northeast Conference.
Because of rain today, the start has been pushed back to either 5:30 or 6 p.m.at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. The teams will play a twinbill on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and round out the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Fairleigh Dickinson is 1-4 on the season so far. The Knights dropped three of four last weekend at George Washington. They were downed in their season opener at Wake Forest. FDU plays their first 13 contests of the season away from home. Freshman Matt Holsman leads the team with a .294 batting average.
Pitching for the Knights on Friday will be LHP John Meadus (0-2, 8.38 ERA), RHP Nicholas Melchiorre (0-1, 5.40 ERA) and RHP Ray Courtney (0-0, 8.31 ERA) on Saturday and RHP Ben Green (0-1, 5.06 ERA) on Sunday.ODU is 3-10 on the season so far. The Monarchs dropped three close games last weekend to Rutgers. The Monarchs then dropped a pair of midweek games at No. 17South Carolina and at UNC Greensboro.
Freshman RHP Brett Harris (1-1, 4.50 ERA) will throw for ODU on Friday, while redshirt sophomore Robbie Watkins (0-1, 5.14 ERA) will start game one on Saturday. Game two on Saturday and Sunday's starters have not yet been determined.Jake McAloose leads the team with a .408 batting average along with 2 HR and 10 RBI. Donnie Corsner has knocked in 11 RBI with 2 HR and a .333 batting average. Ben Tomchick has a 1.86 ERA with twelve strikeouts in 19-plus innings of work for the Monarchs.