Old Dominion (8-4) vs. Northeastern (6-3)
Game Location – Bud Metheny Ballpark (Norfolk, Va.)
Games 1 & 2 – Friday, March 8 at 1 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, March 10 at 1 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
NORFOLK, Va. – With inclement weather expected all day on Saturday, Old Dominion Baseball and Northeastern will open their weekend series with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m. at Bud Metheny Ballpark. Game Two of the twin bill will follow 30 minutes after the end of Game One, and the teams will then conclude the series with a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+. Eric Bohannon will call the action on Friday while Andy Mashaw and Brock Gagliardi will cover Sunday's game. Live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (8-4) hosted William & Mary on Tuesday and came away with a 6-2 win over the Tribe. Kyle Edwards (3-for-5) drove in two runs with a triple and a double and Steven Meier (2-for-5) also collected two RBIs with one double. Kenny Levari finished 1-for-4 with his second home run in as many games. Blake Morgan (1-0) picked up the win in what was a staff day for ODU. He held W&M to one hit and two walks while fanning four in 2.1 innings pitched. The Monarchs used a total six different pitchers who combined for 13 strikeouts.
ODU and W&M were scheduled for a second meeting in Williamsburg on Wednesday, but the game was postponed due to weather. A makeup date is still to be determined.
Meier leads the team and raised his batting average to .342 on Tuesday. Edwards is also hitting over the .300 mark with a .326 clip, Luke Waters is next with a .277 average, and Alex Bouche is batting .268. Edwards owns the team high in RBIs with 12, Waters is second with 10, and Meier enters the weekend with nine. As a team, the Monarchs are batting .220 with a .336 slugging percentage and a .333 on-base percentage. ODU has also stolen 25 bases in 26 attempts. Through games played on March 6, the team ranks 27th nationally in sacrifice bunts (8), 30th in stolen bases, and 31st in stolen bases per game (2.08).
ODU will go with its same weekend rotation of John Holobetz (1-2, 6.00 ERA), Dylan Brown (1-0, 3.38 ERA), and Trent Buchanan (1-0, 4.15 ERA). The Monarchs own a combined ERA of 3.45, good for 17th in the country, with opposing teams hitting .231 against them. The team currently leads all of NCAA Division I with 2.27 walks allowed per nine innings. ODU is also second in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.56), and 12th in WHIP (1.13).
Scouting Northeastern
The Huskies (6-3) won two of three games at Mercer last weekend and are coming off a 7-0 shutout of Georgia Tech on Wednesday in Atlanta. The team's first midweek game of the season, Northeastern scored in each of the first three innings to build a 4-0 lead and added another three runs in the top of the sixth. Tyler MacGregor (3-for-4) hit two home runs and Luke Beckstein (4-for-5) scored two runs. NU used four pitchers to keep the Yellow Jackets off the scoreboard with Jake Gigliotti earning the decision.
Alex Lane was voted the Coastal Athletic Association Player of the Week on Monday after going 6-for-11 (545) with two homers and six RBIs in the series at Mercer. The senior designated hitter went 2-for-4 and drove in two run in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, 8-2. In the nightcap, he finished 3-for-4, went deep twice and drove in three runs. Lane also drew three walks for a .643 on-base percentage and added a 1.091 slugging percentage.
MacGregor is batting .447 to lead NU's starters. Following him are Lane (.441), Beckstein (.387) and Jack Doyle (.292). MacGregor and Lane have both hit three home runs and have 24 RBIs between the two of them. The Huskies haven't stolen as often as the Monarchs, but are still a threat with a 16-for-17 success rate. NU is hitting .283 as a team with a .479 slugging percentage and a .364 on-base percentage. As of March 6, they rank second in the CAA in triples (3) and triples per game (0.33).
NU is expected to go with righthander Aiven Cabral (0-2, 18.69 ERA) for the first game on Friday and righty Wyatt Scotti (2-1, 5.11 ERA) for Sunday. The Huskies have not named a starting pitcher for the second game of the doubleheader. Northeastern owns a team ERA of 5.08 and opposing teams are hitting .269 against them. NU leads the CAA and ranks 26th in the country with 3.23 walks allowed per nine innings. The team is also second in their conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.32).
Northeastern returns all-conference honorees from last year's team that went 44-16 and was picked to win the CAA in a vote by the league's head coaches, receiving eight of 12 first-place votes. Mike Sirota was tabbed the CAA Preseason Player of the Year and was joined on the Preseason All-CAA Team by MacGregor, Cam Maldonado, Lane, Cabral, and Jake Gigliotti. Additionally, Scotti earned Honorable Mention honors.
Head Coach Mike Glavine is in his 10th season leading the program.
The Series
Former CAA foes, ODU and Northeastern have previously met 26 times with the Monarchs ahead 15-11 in the all-time series. The two programs last met for a three-game set in Norfolk on March 5-7, 2021.
After the Monarchs took the opener 10-8, the Huskies evened the series with a 6-5 victory in Game Two. The rubber match went to extra innings, with ODU besting the visitors 3-2 for the series win. After NU jumped ahead 2-1 in the top of the 11th, ODU responded with two runs in the bottom half of the frame. Andy Garriola was placed on second to start the inning and scored the tying run on a Robbie Petracci double down the right-field line. Gagliardi then came through as the hero, hitting a walkoff RBI single to left center.
Up Next
Princeton will be in town for a pair of 3 p.m. games at The Bud next Tuesday and Wednesday.
ODU and Northeastern to Open Weekend Series with Friday Doubleheader
