March 14, 2013
ATLANTA, Ga. - Old Dominion University baseball begins a three-game series on Friday at Georgia State for their final CAA series against the Panthers. The teams square off on Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
ODU comes into the weekend with a 9-6 overall record and is 2-1 in league play while GSU is 11-6 overall and 2-1 in the CAA.
ODU junior Ben Verlander received national accolades for his performance last week, earning Louisville Slugger's National Player of the Week, along with CAA Player of the Week. The right fielder/first baseman leads the Monarchs with a .444 batting average and four home runs. Austin McGowan (.340) and Ben Slaton (.333) are also batting above .300 while Josh Eldridge leads the club with 16 RBI.
Georgia State is batting .346 as a team and is led by Chad Prain who has a team-best .435 average and 18 RBI. Josh Merrigan is second on the squad with a .417 average and a team-high 22 runs scored and is 6-for-6 in stolen bases.
Pitching Matchups
ODU
Friday - Dean Ali - RHP - 1-1, 1.71 ERA
Saturday - Ryan Yarbrough - LHP - 1-1, 3.16 ERA
Sunday - Andy Roberts - LHP - 1-1, 1.88 ERA
GSU
Friday - Jerry Stuckey - RHP - 1-0, 6.27 ERA
Saturday - Garrett Ford - LHP - 2-2, 3.20 ERA
Sunday - Andrew Fessler - LHP - 1-0, 0.00 ERA
Brandon Smith have pitched well out of the backend of the bullpen for the Monarchs. Gero has yet to allow an earned run 11.2 innings of work while Smith has a 1.80 ERA and four saves.
ODU leads the all-time series over the Panthers, 13-11, while GSU took 2-of-3 from the Monarchs last season at the Bud.