Matchup – Old Dominion (28-15, 11-10 Sun Belt) at Liberty (19-24, 10-11 ASUN)
Game Location – Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium (Lynchburg, Va.)
Start Time – Wednesday, May 3 at 6 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+
Live Stats – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion baseball and Liberty meet for the second game of a home-and-home series this Wednesday, May 3 in Lynchburg, Virginia. First pitch from Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
ODU hosted Texas State this past weekend, dropping two of three games to the Bobcats. After Friday's opener went to TXST 11-1, weather forced the teams to play a doubleheader on Saturday.
In Game One, Sam Armstrong and John Holobetz combined to hold the Bobcats to one run. A pair of doubles from Jay Tarkenton and Thomas Wheeler and an RBI single by Chris Dengler put ODU up 2-1 in the bottom of the of the fifth, and Luke Waters robbed what would have been a game-tying home run in the top of the eighth.
In Game Two, ODU scored eight runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to erase a 10-2 deficit and send the game to extras. The Bobcats then went up 12-10 in the 10th, and a Hunter Fitz-Gerald solo home run was all the Monarchs (28-15) could muster in response.
Tyler Wheeler (.338) and Fitz-Gerald (.337) lead ODU's starters at the plate. Alex Bouche follows with a .318 average, Kenny Levari is hitting .305, and Waters and Jake Ticer are both at .304. Fitz-Gerald currently ranks sixth in the country in home runs (20), seventh in home runs per game (0.47), 11th in RBIs (62), 13th in RBIs per game (1.44) and total bases (130), and 15th in sacrifice flies (6). The junior from Margate, Florida has also scored a team-high 50 runs. Levari is up to 14 doubles this season, and Thomas Wheeler ranks fourth nationally in triples (6) and 11th in triples per game (0.14). He's also 16-for-19 on stolen-base attempts while Waters is 9-for-10.
The Monarchs are batting .298 as a team and own a .545 slugging percentage with a .404 on-base percentage. As of May 1, the team is seventh nationally in home runs (87) and home runs per game (2.02), 14th in slugging percentage, 16th in runs scored (371), and 20th in runs per game (8.6) and triples (15).
Blake Morgan (3-4, 6.84 ERA) will get the start on Wednesday. He has started all 11 games he's appeared in this season and has recorded 41 strikeouts against 15 walks in 51.1 innings pitched.
Scouting Liberty
The Flames (19-24) are looking to snap a four-game skid after a 7-4 loss at then-No. 13 Virginia last Tuesday before getting swept at Stetson over the weekend. Liberty was shut out 7-0 on Friday, then dropped both games of a Sunday doubleheader 13-8 and 5-4.
Brayden Horton (.323), Kane Kepley (.300) and Jaylen Guy (.298) lead the team at the plate. Cam Foster (.252) has driven in a team-high 29 runs to go along with eight home runs and 27 runs scored. Camden Troyer (.271) has scored 30 runs with 27 RBIs and 12 doubles. Guy also has double-digit doubles with 11 and is the primary threat to steal with 20 swiped bags in 24 attempts. Kepley is next with a 10-for-12 success rate and Jake Lazzaro (.281) is 9-for-14). Lazzaro ranks 18th nationally with eight sac bunts and is 38th with 0.19 sac bunts per game.
The Flames lead the ASUN with 12 triples and rank second in the league in triples per game (0.28), hits allowed per nine innings (8.63) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.9). Liberty owns a combined .249 batting average with a .377 slugging percentage and .355 on-base percentage.
Sophomore right-hander Ryan Butler (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will get the nod for the Flames. The Salem, Virginia native has allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and one walk through three appearances and four innings pitched.
The Series
The Monarchs lead the all-time series 30-26, though the Flames won a March 22 game 9-5 in Norfolk. Liberty built an early 6-0 lead before a two-out, two-run home run from Grimes put ODU on the board in bottom of the fourth inning. However, the Flames pulled away again with another three runs in the top of the sixth. Grimes homered again in the seventh, and the Monarchs plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the offense proved to be too little too late.
What's Next
ODU will head to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a Sun Belt Conference series at Arkansas State this weekend. The Monarchs and Red Wolves open with a 7 p.m. ET series opener on Friday, followed by a 4 p.m. ET game on Saturday and a 12 p.m. ET start on Sunday.
Road Game at Liberty On Deck for ODU Baseball
