OLD DOMINION (24-16) vs. East Carolina (24-16)
Mon. April 21 Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium
Greenville, NC 6:00 PM
The Baseball Monarchs travel to ECU Monday for a non-conference game added last week. Game time is 6 p.m. at Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair stadium. ODU won the C-USA series earlier, winning two of three games at the Bud.
The Monarchs enter the game with of the nation's top defenses at .978 which ranks 18th.
Sophomore PJ Higgins leads the team in hitting at .341 with 26 RBI and 31 runs scored along with a team best 14 doubles. Higgins leads C-USA in total hits with 58. Taylor Ostrich is second at .325, Freshman Nick Walker at .305 and Josiah Burney at .314. Ben Slaton has three homers with a .290 batting average, and Jordan Negrini is at .293 with 19 RBI.
Burney leads ODU and is tied with FIU's Garcia in homers with six. He also leads C-USA in slugging at .579 and ranks fourth in RBI with 32.
On the mound, senior lefthander Andy Roberts has a 2.80 earned run average to go with his 3-1 record, while fellow senior lefthander Ryan Yarbrough leads the team with a 5-4 record with a 2.69 ERA.
ODU reliver Brad Gero has a team best seven saves, while Dean Ali is 4-2 with a 4.54 ERA, followed by Connor Overton at 1-1 with a 273 ERA. As a team, ODU is hitting .285 overall with 14 homeruns and a 3.37 team ERA with two shutouts.
ECU is led by Zach Houchins with a .348 batting average, followed by Drew Reynolds at .333. Bryce Harman has a team best four homers, followed by Ian Townsend with three homers and a team best 28 RBI.
On the mound Ryan Williams is 9-2 with a 1.96 earned run average. Brett Mabry, Drew Reynolds, Tyler Bolton and Williams have ERA's of lower than 2.00.
SERIES VS. ECU
ODU leads 32-28 – ODU has won the last 3 games at ECU, 5-3 in 2013 & 3-2 in 2012 & 7-4 in 2011.The Monarchs won the C-USA series 2-1, March 11-13.
MONARCH NOTES
Josiah Burney was C-USA Player of the Week on March 24.
ODU has won five straight C-USA Series.
ODU ranked 18th nationally in fielding
20 runs and 21 hits vs. W&M is a season high
Yarbrough has won four straight starts
Josiah Burney hit .615 with a 1.077 slugging pct vs. ECU
PJ Higgins has reached base in 38 consecutive games.
Longest Winning Streak – 4 Feb. 16-21
ODU LEADERS
Runs – Higgins 31
Hits – Higgins 58
RBI- Burney 32
Doubles – Higgins 14
Homeruns – Burney 6
Stolen bases: Myers (9)
Saves: Gero (7)
Appearances –Gero (23)
COMPARING THE TEAMS
ODU ECU
Hitting: .285 . 276
Runs : 237 181
2B: 83 47
3B: 8 5
HR: 14 14
BB: 144 138
SO: 240 231
SB: 33-47 32-50
FLD: .978 .968
ERA: 3.37 2.97
CG: 2 1
SHO: 2 4
SAV: 11 11
C-USA STANDINGS
Rice 29-13 16-5
So. Miss. 24-17 13-5
UTSA 26-14 11-7
ECU 24-16 11-7
ODU 24-16 12-9
FIU 27-12 11-10
Midd. Tenn. 19-21 9-9
Marshall 18-20 8-9
FAU 21-18 9-12
Tulane 15-22 6-13
Charlotte 11-24-1 4-13
LA Tech 10-27 4-17