Matchup – Old Dominion (23-9, 8-4 Sun Belt) vs. No. 17 Coastal Carolina (21-10, 9-3 Sun Belt)
Game Location – Bud Metheny Ballpark (Norfolk, Va.)
Game 1 – Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, April 15 at 4 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion baseball welcomes No. 17 Coastal Carolina for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series this weekend at Bud Metheny Ballpark. The series begins with a 6 p.m. start on Friday, followed by a 4 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.
Fans can watch the series on ESPN+ with Andy Mashaw calling the action. Live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (23-9, 8-4 Sun Belt) dropped their first conference series last weekend against Southern Miss. ODU then made the trip to Greenville, North Carolina on Tuesday, falling to No. 9 East Carolina 7-3 at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Hunter Fitz-Gerald hit his 13th home run of the season Tuesday night. He leads the Monarchs in that category and ranks 15th nationally. The Margate, Florida native is batting .348 with a .667 slugging percentage, leads the league in runs scored (40), and is third in the conference with 43 RBIs.
Alex Bouche's .360 batting average leads ODU's starters, and Thomas Wheeler follows Bouche and Fitz-Gerald with a .342 clip. Wheeler is second on the team in scoring with 35 runs, has stolen 13 bases in 15 attempts, and owns six triples. His 16 career triples rank second among NCAA Division I active leaders and are three shy of tying Kevin Gibbs (1993-95) for the program record. Other starters hitting over .300 include Kenny Levari (.328), Luke Waters (.320) and Tyler Wheeler (.319).
This weekend will see Blake Morgan (3-3, 5.08 ERA) start on Friday and Sam Armstrong (6-0, 2.98 ERA) get the nod on Saturday. Sunday's starter has yet to be named. ODU is 8-0 this season when Armstrong has started.
ODU enters the series ranked sixth in the country in home runs per game (1.97) and slugging percentage (.555), seventh in home runs (63), 10th in runs scored (296), 11th in runs scored per game (9.2), 12th in triples (14) and 14th in triples per game (0.44).
Scouting Coastal Carolina
After a 2-1 series win over Georgia Southern, the Chanticleers (21-10, 9-3 Sun Belt) split a pair of midweek games at No. 14 Campbell. CCU fell 9-4 in Buies Creek, North Carolina on Monday, but got the better of the Camels 5-3 on Tuesday. Graham Brown was named the league's Player of the Week after hitting .563 with a 1.063 slugging percentage against the Eagles. He posted four straight multi-hit games and had at least one extra-base hit in each contest. He added five runs and five RBIs to his weekly totals.
Coastal has one of the best offenses in the country: the team is currently third in doubles (83) and doubles per game (2.68), fourth in scoring (9.9 runs per game), sixth in hit by pitch (72), eighth in runs scored (307) and slugging percentage (.554), and ninth in batting average (.319). Peyston Eeles leads CCU's starters with a .385 clip. Following him are Derek Bender (.370), Caden Bodine (.355), Brown (.342), Zach Beach (.333), Chad Born (.313) and Blake Barthol (.307).
Bender has hit a team-high 10 home runs with 47 RBIs while Eeles and Brown have scored 38 runs each. Brown ranks second in the Sun Belt and 19th nationally with 14 doubles, and Nick Lucky (.257) also has double-digit doubles with 10. Eeles is the primary threat to steal with 18 swiped bags on 21 attempts. Lucky is 7-for-8 on stolen base attempts and Brown is 4-for-4.
Coastal's rotation will feature right-hander Matthew Potok (2-1, 4.30 ERA) on Friday and righty Jacob Morrison (4-0, 5.59 ERA) on Saturday. The Chanticleers have not named a starter for Game Three. CCU pitchers have combined for a 6.57 ERA and opposing teams are hitting .275 against them. The Chanticleers are also ranked 11th with 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
CCU is currently tied atop the league standings with Louisiana and was picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches' Poll with one first-place vote and 151 total points.
The Series
ODU has a narrow 4-3 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1985 season. This weekend marks the first time the Monarchs and Chanticleers will play each other in Norfolk and it will be the first meeting since 2015 when ODU dropped its season opener 4-0 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the Coastal Carolina Invitational.
What's Next
ODU and VMI will meet for the second time this season when the Monarchs travel to Lexington, Virginia for a 6 p.m. game against the Keydets next Wednesday. ODU won the first game in the home-and-home series 15-8 on February 21 at The Bud.
Voucher Books!
The 2022-23 Old Dominion voucher book is available for sale on ynottix.com. For the cost of $50, you get 25 tickets that can be presented at the gate for admission to any regular season home game at Bud Metheny Ballpark. Single-game tickets can also be purchased for $5.
Click here to purchase the 2022-23 ODU voucher book.
ODU Baseball Set for Home Series Versus No. 17 Coastal Carolina
