NORFOLK, VA—The ODU Baseball Monarchs (12-8) host the Flames of Liberty (14-7) Wednesday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
The two teams played in Lynchburg earlier this season on Feb. 18 with ODU winning, 7-4 as Mike Perez had three hits and two runs batted in and sophomore Brian Beard also knocked in two runs in the win.
Outfielder/firstbaseman Taylor Ostrich leads the Monarchs in hitting at .312, followed by P.J.Higgins at .311. Higgins also has 10 RBI and has scored 14 times. Designated hitter Ben Slaton rounds out the 300 level at .304 with a team best three homers and 15 RBI. Josh Eldridge has upped his average to .266 and is tied for the team lead in RBI with 15. Freshman Nick Walker is hitting .370 and thirdbaseman Jordan Negrini is hitting .309 with a team best 15 runs scored.
As a team, ODU is hitting .278 and are averaging 5.9 runs per game. On the mound, Andy Roberts leads the weekend starters with a 2.17 ERA to go with a 2-0 record. Roberts pitched a complete game ,4-1 victory over UAB Sunday. Tommy Alexander is 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA. Freshman Sam Sinnen has a 1.54 ERA, while Ryan Yarbrough has a team best 22 strikeouts in 27 innings of work. Conner Overton is second with 19 strikeouts in 19 innings of work.
Liberty is led by Ryan Seiz at .430 with five homers and 22 RBI. He had three hits and two RBI in the first meeting. Alex Close is second on the team with a .346 batting average and 21 runs batted in. Liberty has a team ERA of 2.89 and a team batting average of .301. Liberty has scored 136 runs for a 6.5 run per game average.
After Wednesday’s contest, the Monarchs hit the road for a three-game C-USA series at LA Tech beginning Friday in Ruston, LA.