May 12, 2011
NORFOLK, VA-- The ODU Monarchs (24-21/16-8) host the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington (27-22/15-9) in a three-game CAA series at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex beginningFriday at 7 p.m. The very tight CAA race will have the top four teams playing eachother this weekend. Listen to coach Goulet talk about this weekend's series andODU's seniors. (Located at the bottom of this page)
UNCW is coached by Marc Scalf who is in his 20th season at his Alma Mater. Outfielder Thomas Pope leads the Seahawks and the CAA with a .409 batting average and 70 base hits. Infielder Hunter Ridge and outfielder Andrew Cain have both hiteight homers for UNCW. Ridge leads the team with 49 RBI's, while three Seahawkshave 13 or more stolen bases led by Pope with 17.
On the mound, righthander Daniel Cropper is 6-2 with a 4.37 ERA. He has 68 strikeouts in 68 innings of work which ranks him fifth in the league in strikeouts.Pitchers Kelly Secrest, and Jack Lane are tied for second in the CAA with 24 appearances each. Ridge, Matt Campbell and Pope are in the CAA's top six in totalbase hits.
The Seahawks lead the series, 52-54. The two teams did not play each other last year.
ODU is led by its weekend trio of Kyle Hald (7-2/3.40), Phil McCarthy (7-3/4.00) and Ben Tomchick (7-4/ 2.86). Hald leads the CAA in strikeouts with 88 and Tomchick ranks eighth with 60. Senior reliever Adam Wisniewski leads the league in saves with 12, while freshman reliever Dean Ali leads ODU and the CAA with a 2.44 ERA.
Junior shortstop and CAA co-Player of the Week Josh Wright ranks fifth in the CAA with a .377 batting average. Wright is sixth in homers, with 11, third in triples with four and has a .727 slugging percentage (second in the CAA) and 17 stolen bases.
Junior firstbaseman Joey Burney has second home runs. Wright leads theMonarchs in runs scored followed by third bseman Brent Frazier with 35.
Friday's game is Baseball Bingo for the first 100 fans, while on Saturday the first200 fans will receive an ODU baseball drawstrng cinch bag. On Sunday, seniorsNathan Hartman, Kyle Hald, Adam Wisniewski, Edgar Hernandez, Joe Haumacher along with manager Joel Kinney will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Game time for Saturday is 4 p.m. and Sunday is 2 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Complex.
Click on the link below to see a video preview with head coach Nate Goulet.
CAA BaseballStandings as of 05/11/11Team CAA Overall
Old Dominion 16-8 24-21James Madison 15-9 31-17UNC Wilmington 15-9 27-22Towson 14-10 25-23 -1Delaware 15-12 26-24Georgia State 13-11 33-16William & Mary 13-11 23-25Northeastern 10-14 16-28VCU 9-15 19-28Hofstra 9-15 12-29George Mason 6-21 20-30 -1
CAA games this weekendHofstra at VCUDelaware at northeasternTowson at JMUGeorgia State at W&MUNCW at ODU