NORFOLK, VA—The ODU Baseball Monarchs (36-24) will play Maryland (36-21) Friday afternoon in the NCAA Regional at Columbia, SC. ODU will be the No. 3 seed and game time is set for 1:00 p.m. on ESPN3. This will be the Monarchs first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2000. Joining ODU in the regional field will be top seed South Carolina (42-16) and fourth seed Campbell (40-19).
“I am really proud of these guys. This is year three in our program and we got two recruited classes in. We have been able to blend the young men we brought in with some of the seniors here and has created a high character group who love to work hard and compete and are not afraid of the moment. They played their way in to the NCAA field. We are awful, awful happy to be selected.”
Strength of schedule: “ That got us over the hump. We played such a good schedule and won enough of them, beating Virginia, beating Rice twice. We played teams who are in this field as conference champions and we won just enough in the league to stay in the mix and then in the C-USA tournament with our backs to the wall we won three one-run games and here we are.”
Playing Maryland: “ Maryland’s coaching staff has been there the same amount of time as we have been here at ODU and have done a great job in rebuilding the program. They are a really good athletic team, well coached, they pitch it great and have a solid defense. It will be fun to see them in person. Assistant coach Karl Nonemaker and their pitching coach Jim Belanger worked together at Monmouth and are great friends. Head coach John Szefc and I have been competing against each other for a long time, and he does a great job with those guys.”
This will be head coach Chris Finwood's third appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. He took Western Kentucky to the Regionals twice.
This will be ODU’s eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament. The last time was in 2000 as the No. 2 seed at the Clemson Regional. The Monarchs most successful appearance was in 1995. ODU opened the Tallahassee Regional beating Ole Miss, 5-3, then Central Florida, 7-6, before losing to Florida State, 7-2 and Ole Miss in the semifinals, 5-4.
ODU and Maryland have played 18 times with the series tied 9-9. The last time the two played was in 2010, with the Terps defeated ODU, 14-9 at the Bud Metheny Complex. ODU is 5-2 against Campbell and 4-19 against the Gamecocks.
ODU joins C-USA member and league champion Rice in this year’s field.
2014 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship (all times Eastern)
Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU
#1 LSU (44-14-1) vs. #4 Southeastern La. (37-23), 3 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Houston (44-15) vs. #3 Bryant (42-14), 8 p.m., ESPN3
Bloomington Regional hosted by Indiana
#1 Indiana (42-13) vs. #4 Youngstown State (16-36), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Indiana State (35-16) vs. #3 Stanford (30-23), 2 p.m., ESPN3
Charlottesville Regional hosted by Virginia
#1 Virginia (44-13) vs. #4 Bucknell (30-19-1), 2 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Arkansas (38-23) vs. #3 Liberty (41-16), 7 p.m., ESPNU
Coral Gables Regional hosted by Miami (Florida)
#1 Miami (Florida) (41-17) vs. #4 Bethune-Cookman (26-31), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Texas Tech (40-18) vs. #3 Columbia (29-18), 2 p.m., ESPN3
Corvallis Regional hosted by Oregon State
#1 Oregon State (42-12) vs. #4 North Dakota State (25-24), 11 p.m., ESPNU
#2 UNLV (35-23) vs. #3 UC Irvine (35-22), 5 p.m., ESPN3
Columbia Regional hosted by South Carolina
#1 South Carolina (42-16) vs. #4 Campbell (40-19), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Maryland (36-21) vs. #3 Old Dominion (36-24), 1 p.m., ESPN3
Fort Worth Regional hosted by TCU
#1 TCU (42-15) vs. #4 Siena (26-231), 8 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Dallas Baptist (40-19) vs. #3 Sam Houston State (41-217), 3:30 p.m., ESPN3
Gainesville Regional hosted by Florida
#1 Florida (40-21) vs. #4 Col. of Charleston (41-17), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Long Beach State (32-24) vs. #3 North Carolina (34-25), 1 p.m., ESPN3
Houston Regional hosted by Rice
#1 Rice (41-18) vs. #4 George Mason (34-20), 8 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Texas (38-18) vs. #3 Texas A&M (33-24), 4 p.m., ESPNU
Lafayette Regional hosted by La.-Lafayette
#1 La.-Lafayette (53-7) vs. Jackson State (31-23), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Mississippi State (37-22) vs. #3 San Diego State (42-19), 2 p.m., ESPN3
Louisville Regional hosted by Louisville
#1 Louisville (45-15) vs. #4 Kent State (36-21), 6 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Kentucky (35-23) vs. #3 Kansas (34-24), 2 p.m., ESPN3
Nashville Regional hosted by Vanderbilt
#1 Vanderbilt (41-18) vs. #4 Xavier (29-27), 8 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Oregon (42-18) vs. #3 Clemson (36-23), 1 p.m., ESPN3
Oxford Regional hosted by Ole Miss
#1 Ole Miss (41-18) vs. #4 Jacksonville State (36-25), 8 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Washington (39-15-1) vs. #3 Georgia Tech (36-25), 4 p.m., ESPN3
San Luis Obispo Regional hosted by Cal Poly
#1 Cal Poly (45-10) vs. #4 Sacramento State (39-22), 9 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Arizona State (33-22) vs. #3 Pepperdine (39-16), 4 p.m., ESPN3
Stillwater Regional hosted by Oklahoma State
#1 Oklahoma State (45-16) vs. #4 Binghamton (25-25), 7 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Nebraska (40-19) vs. #3 Cal State Fullerton (32-22), 1 p.m., ESPNU
Tallahassee Regional hosted by Florida St.
#1 Florida State (43-15) vs. #4 Ga. Southern (39-21), 6 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Alabama (34-22) vs. #3 Kennesaw State (37-21), Noon, ESPN3