ODU (7-5/0-0) at. WESTERN KENTUCKY (7-8/0-0)
Nick Denes Field - Bowling Green, KY.
Friday at 7 p.m. ET
Saturday 4 p.m. ET
Sunday 1 p.m. ET
Head Coach: Chris Finwood (VMI ’88)
Record at ODU: 92-89 (4th season)
Career Record: 334-340 (13th year)
ODU POSSIBLE STARTERS
C Mike Perez Sr. .353, 6 RBI
1b Taylor Ostrich Sr. .390, 2 2b, 10 RBI
2b/C PJ Higgins Jr. .380, 19 hits , 9 RBI (Pre-Season C-USA)
SS Jason McMurray Jr. .238, 6 runs, 4 2b (Western CC – National Champions)
3B Nick Lustrino Jr. .255, 11 hits, 6 RBI
DH Josh Eldridge Sr. .340, 8 2b, 2 HR
CF Connor Myers Jr. .368, 9 RBI
RF Nick Walker So. .162, 5 RBI ,395 OBPCT (Pre-Season C-USA)
LF Matt Cogen Fr. .389 8 RBI, 8 runs
Zach Rutherford Fr. .077
ODU Pitchers
Game 1 Greg Tomchick, RHP (1-1/2.70 )
Game 2 Joey Benitez, LHP (0-0/3.46)
Game 3 Nick Hartman, RHP (0-1/10.12)
MONARCH NOTES
ODU enters this series with a five-game winning streak
P.J. Higgins has a current 10-game hitting streak
Taylor Ostrich has reached base 12 straight games
Connor Myers made a game saving diving catch in 9th vs. Bryant
ODU has beaten Virginia two straight
Catcher Mike Perez has five multiple hit games
ODU has lost seven games to the weather
ODU turned a school record 68 doubleplays (3rd nationally)
Head Coach Chris Finwood was the 2014 ABCA E. Region Coach of the Year
Finwood won his 300th collegiate game with a 2-1 (10 inn) win over Rice (3-8-14)
ODU advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years.
ODU defeated Rice twice and in five games three were one-run decisions & two extra innings
Nick Walker – 2014 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American team
Last year, Walker had the team’s longest hitting streak of 20 games
ODU returns its four top hitters from a year ago.
The name Old Dominion is the nickname of the Commonwealth of Virginia
ODU VS. WESTERN KENTUCKY
ODU leads the series, 3-2, but this is the first meeting between the two since the 1991 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The two met in the 1985 Sun Belt finals at ODU with ODU winning 11-10 in 11 innings in which ODU turned an NCAA record 7 double plays. Finwood coached at WKU from 2006-11 where he took the toppers to two NCAA Tournaments and was the 2009 Sun Belt Coach Of the Year.
ODU VS. TOP 10 TEAMS
No. 1 W 14-5 at Virginia 3-11-15
No. 1 W 8-1 Virginia 4-29-14
No. 1 L 7-1 at Virginia 4-1-14
No. 2 W 8-6 at North Carolina 2-26-08
No. 5 L 6-7 at North Carolina 4-1-09
No. 8 L 1-3 at NC State 4-16-3
No. 8 W 15-10 South Carolina 1998
No. 10 L 3-16 South Carolina 2001
EXTRA INNINGS WITH CHRIS FINWOOD
Extra Innings with Chris Finwood debuts March 8 on ESPN Radio 94.1. The show will air every Monday evening at 6:45. Finwood will give a recap of the previous week’s games and upcoming Monarch baseball games as well as player interviews with host and ODU Director of Broadcasting Ted Alexander.
23 Baseball Games To Air On Star 1310 AM
ODU and Max Media of Hampton Roads have announced that 23 Monarch baseball games will be aired this spring on Star 1310 WGH AM, beginning March 20 when the Monarchs host defending Conference USA Champion and pre-season number 15 Rice.
Ted Alexander, ODU’s Director of Broadcasting and the voice of ODU football and men’s basketball, will serve as the primary play-by-play voice assisted by Doug Ripley, who has served as host announcer for the Karen Barefoot’s coaches show and play-by-play voice for the Lady Monarch basketball games the past three years. Also assisting on some of the broadcasts will be Andy Mashaw who is the analyst on ODU football broadcasts. Mashaw will be the primary play-by-play announcer on the audio stream broadcasts.
Two Baseball Games To Be Televised Nationally By ASN
American Sports Network (ASN) has announced its Conference USA Baseball television schedule for the 2015 season, featuring each of the league’s 12 schools. The current schedule consists of 11 regular season league games to appear nationally on the syndicated network. ODU will have two contests televised which include the March 28 contest at Middle Tennessee and a home game on May 2 against FIU.
ODU BASEBALL VOUCHER BOOKS AVAILABLE
ODU Baseball's 2015 season voucher books are available! Voucher books include 32 vouchers that grant admission to any ODU Baseball home game, including ODU-Virginia at Harbor Park on April 28. With each voucher book purchased, you will receive two (2) ODAF priority points! For more information, contact the ODU Athletic Ticket Office at 683-4444.
NEXT UP FOR ODU
VMI March 17 and 18 at 6 p.m. at ODU