NORFOLK, Va. – Even on a good day, it takes more than seven hours for Gordon and Pamela Armstrong to traverse the 350 or so miles between Wantage, New Jersey and the Old Dominion University campus.
When the families of most ODU athletes arrive in Norfolk, they have to pay for a hotel room and with no way to cook food, they eat at restaurants. And the Armstrongs have two black Labrador Retrievers, and not all that many hotels allow you to check in with two hyper friendly but very large dogs.
Determined to come see every Old Dominion home baseball game in which their son plays, they bought a camper, hauled it to a Virginia Beach campground near Back Bay and parked it there for the duration of the season.
Unusual? Yes. But this is an exceptionally close family with parents very much involved with their kids and their athletic pursuits. The camper has allowed them to see every game their son pitched this season at Bud Metheny Ballpark.
And what a season it has been for Sam Armstrong.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound right-hander has blossomed into ODU's best pitcher.
Armstrong was good but far from spectacular last season. He was 3-2 as a Sunday starter with a 5.40 ERA. This season he is 9-2 with a 3.20 ERA as ODU's Saturday starter, and has a fastball that has hit 94 miles per hour on the radar gun.
"Sam has really improved," ODU head coach Chris Finwood said. "He struggled at times last season. He wasn't ever bad, but he wasn't that good, either.
"But he's a fantastic competitor and dedicated himself over the summer to get in better shape. He lost a lot of weight and got stronger. He's moving better, he's faster and his velocity went up.
The Armstrong family enjoys a sunset at Back Bay in Virginia Beach.
"We'd be struggling without him. We've only lost two games on Saturdays of the 13 times he started."
The Monarchs host Georgia State for a three-game series beginning Thursday at 6. He likely will start Friday at 3 p.m. in game No. 2. The series, ODU's last regular-season games before next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament, concludes Saturday at noon.
The Armstrongs, who will fly to Montgomery, Alabama for the Sun Belt Tournament, say they have enjoyed every minute watching their son play. And that dedication to both their sons – Ben is Sam's older brother – was apparent many years ago.
Wantage is a township in rural, Northern New Jersey near the New York border, and it wasn't unusual for the Armstrongs to have to drive an hour or two to take their sons to practice or to play travel ball.
"I would not be here today without them, that's for sure," Sam Armstrong said. "They put a whole lot of miles and gas in it for me and my brother."
His parents both work long hours. Gordon began his career as a carpenter and is now a construction supervisor. Pamela works in budgeting for the federal government.
"They always made time for us," Sam Armstrong said. "Anytime I wanted to have a catch with my Dad or go hit baseballs at the park, it would be a quick yes, no matter what they were doing."
Sam Armstrong is 9-2 with a 3.20 ERA for ODU.
In some ways, Armstrong is the prototypical ODU recruit. The Monarchs recruit well in the Northeast – the roster includes eight players from New Jersey – as well as junior colleges. And they also search out players who are under the radar and develop them.
That describes Armstrong to a tee.
Armstrong pitched well at High Point Regional High, but after his senior season had offers only from Division III schools. Determined to play Division I, he enrolled at the County College of Morris, a junior college in Randolph, New Jersey.
The pandemic hit when he was a freshman, and the season had barely begun before it was shut down. New Jersey limited how many games the team could play his sophomore season.
"I only pitched 35 innings as a sophomore," he said.
But he worked on the practice field, helped straighten out his pitching mechanics and added five miles per hour to his fastball.
After two years of junior college, he had the Division I offers he coveted. Quinnipiac offered him and he was talking to other Division I schools when ODU pitching coach Mike Marron offered him a scholarship.
"Coach Marron has so many contacts in New Jersey," Armstrong said. "He's such a good guy. After we got to know each other, my decision was made."
Although he has a year of eligibility remaining, this is almost certainly Armstrong's last season at ODU. Finwood and Marron both say he will be selected in the Major League Baseball draft.
"And if he's drafted, he should go," Finwood said.
Will his parents follow him to whatever minor league team where his son ends up playing? Stay tuned, said Gordon Armstrong.
"We had always talked about buying a camper when we retire," Gordon said. "So when Sam decided to come to Old Dominion, it just made sense to buy one then."
At times, it's been a group effort, as other family members have come down in RVs. And the Armstrongs say they have fallen in love with the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area.
Sam Armstrong with his brother Ben and parents, Gordon and Pamela.
Their camper is a 45-minute drive from ODU, situated just steps from Back Bay and less than a mile from the North Carolina border. They've enjoyed watching sunrises and sunsets over Back Bay and the tranquility of a rural part of Virginia Beach.
"Where we're from, it's mountainous," Gordon said. "We didn't know what we would think of the area. But we love the water. And the people here are so nice. They're friendlier than people in New Jersey."
Sam Armstrong said he also loves ODU, but he looks forward to going home. When he returns, he will be reunited with Ashley Davison, his girlfriend of three years. She recently graduated from Florida Atlantic and is teaching this spring in Florida.
She will return to Wantage when the spring semester ends.
He wears two rubber wristbands when he pitches. One says "ODU Baseball." The other says "Scott," and is in honor of Ashley's father, Scott Davison, who died during the pandemic from a blood disorder.
"Unfortunately, I never met her father," Armstrong said. "We started dating shortly after he passed away.
Finwood said the wrist band typifies Armstrong's strong character.
"He's just a great kid," he said. "You can tell he's been raised the right way. He's respectful. He works hard. He's a great student. He's the kind of guy you love being a part of your program.
"He's emerged as a vocal leader for our pitchers."
Armstrong said he and his teammates are determined to finish the season with a run of victories. ODU began by winning 21 of its first 26 games and the Monarchs were ranked among the top 35 in the RPI.
But since April 1, when they began the meat of their Sun Belt Conference schedule, the Monarchs have gone 10-15. ODU is 31-20 and 14-13 in the Sun Belt.
Armstrong wears a wrist band in honor of his girlfriend's father.
"It definitely hurts," he said of how ODU has played recently. "We've been playing average baseball and that's not the standard we expect at ODU.
"Based on how much talent we have, on how I know we can play, we should be pushing 40 wins right now."
ODU's pitching depth was hurt by an injury to starter Blake Morgan last week at James Madison. Morgan won't play this weekend and likely won't play in the Sun Belt Tournament, either.
But Armstrong said the pitching staff can step up.
"We had one of the best, if not the best, pitching staffs in the league for a good chunk of the season until we started this little rough stretch here," he said. "When our guys are the best versions of themselves, we can beat any team we face.
"We know what we're capable of. We've lost a lot of close games. We need to start winning them. I know we're capable of doing it."
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: ODU Baseball has Been a Family Affair for Pitcher Sam Armstrong and His Parents
