May 13, 2009
NORFOLK, VA-- The Baseball Monarchs return home to face the UNC Wilmington Seahawks in their final CAA series of the year. The three-game series begins Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. The two teams will also meet on Friday at 7 p.m. and conclude Saturday at 2 p.m. ODU is currently tied for second place in the CAA with Georgia State. The Monarchs have won nine of their last 12 games.
UNC Wilmington (26-20, 8-7) dropped two out of three contests last weekend at No. 19 Clemson in non-conference action. They also fell to No. 20 ECU at home on Tuesday night. The Seahawks currently sit alone in fifth place in the CAA standings. Sophomore Cody Stanley is batting .319 with 10 HR and 42 RBI and is 9-for-10 in stolen bases to lead Wilmington. Junior Robbie Monday has also been big for the Seahawks, adding 11 HR with 34 RBI and batting .281 on the year. Freshman Tyler McSwain (2-1) has a 3.38 ERA and has struck out 41 batters in 37-plus innings of work to go along with 4 saves out of the bullpen. The Seahawks lead the CAA in triples with 19.
The Monarchs (21-23, 12-9) won a pivotal series in Richmond last weekend, taking two of three from VCU. On Friday, Brett Harris threw his third straight complete game and ODU was able to sneak by the Rams 2-1 via a VCU error in the sixth allowing both ODU runs to score. On Saturday, a pair of ODU errors in the bottom of the sixth allowed VCU to come back from a 6-1 deficit to overtake the Monarchs 7-6. On Sunday, in the rubber game of the series, ODU exploded for 28 runs on 28 hits (second most in school history) with 13 doubles (school record) and drew 12 walks from VCU pitchers. Jake McAloose led the charge with a career-high six RBI. In midweek action at home, The Monarchs blasted Richmond at home 11-4 on Tuesday night. First baseman Josh Wright launched a three-run homer in the third inning to put ODU in front 5-0.
Junior third baseman Jake McAloose (Virginia Beach, VA) was named CAA Co-Player of the Week this week, while freshman righthanded pitcher/DH Brett Harris (Chesapeake, VA) was named CAA Rookie of the Week. McAloose hit .778 for the week with two doubles, seven RBI and a 1.222 slugging percentage with no strikeouts. He was two-for-three with an RBI on Saturday against VCU, and then went five-for-six with six RBI on Sunday in the Monarchs win over the Rams. Brett Harris tossed his CAA leading fifth complete game in a 2-1 win on Friday at VCU. Harris also contributed with the bat as he hit .429 with five RBI during the three-game VCU series. Harris is now 6-3 overall with a 4.07 ERA. Overall, he is hitting .318 with 26 RBI this season.
Jake McAloose leads the team with a .394 batting average scoring 42 runs along with 4 HR and 37 RBI. Freshman first baseman Josh Wright leads the team in home runs with 10 and RBI with 46. Junior Chris Boggs leads the CAA in ERA (2.80) and is 5-1 with 38 strikeouts in 45 innings of work. Freshman Ben Tomchick (4-3) is third in the CAA with a 3.33 ERA. He has also recorded 58 strikeouts in 75-plus innings of work for the Monarchs. ODU leads the CAA in fewest number of errors with 46.The all-time series between the Monarchs and the Seahawks is tied at 51. Last season, ODU dropped two out of three at Wilmington.
CAA StandingsGeorge Mason17-4Georgia State12-9ODU12-9James Madison11-9UNC Wilmington8-7Northeastern11-10Towson11-10William & Mary9-11Delaware8-10VCU8-13Hofstra3-18
Probable Starters
Game One:RHP Brett Harris (6-3, 4.07)Harris threw his third straight (and CAA leading fifth) complete game of the season on Friday at VCU. Hescattered seven hits, giving up one run, three walksand striking out five to earn the victory.
RHP Seth Frankoff (2-5, 5.46)Frankoff lasted just four innings on Friday night at No. 19 Clemson.He gave up seven hits, five runs, four walks andstruck out no one in the loss.
Game Two:RHP Brady Burchill (3-2, 5.00)Burchill pitched seven innings at VCU on Saturday.He gave up eight hits, six runs (four earned), two walks and struck out one in a no-decision.The Rams would eventually rally against the bullpen after a pair of ODU errors to win the game.
LHP Cameron Roth (0-2, 10.12)Roth was hammered hard at No. 19 Clemson on Saturday.He gave up 11 hits, nine runs, one walk and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings pitched to take the loss.
Game Three:RHP Ben Tomchick (4-3, 3.33)Tomchick went just 5 2/3 innings on Sunday, giving upseven hits, five runs, three walks and striking out seven.While a bit shaky on the mound, it was more than enough to get the victory as ODU would explode for 28 runs against the Rams.
TBA
ON Saturday, ODU's three seniors, Brady Burchill,Matt Walls and Max Mostwill be honored prior to the start of the game.