Old Dominion (15-12, 4-5 Sun Belt) at No. 15 Virginia (22-6, 7-5 ACC)
Game Location – Davenport Field at Disharoon Park (Charlottesville, Va.)
Start Time – Tuesday, April 2 at 6 p.m.
Watch – ACCNX
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310
Live Stats – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball is headed back to Charlottesville this Tuesday for its second meeting with No. 15 Virginia this season. First pitch from Disharoon Park is set for 6 p.m.
Tuesday's game will be streamed on ACCNX and Andy Mashaw will call the action on Fox Sports Radio 1310. Live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (15-12, 4-5 Sun Belt) hosted South Alabama over the weekend and earned a 2-1 series win over the Jaguars. ODU won both games of a Friday doubleheader, 8-2 and 8-3, but could not complete the sweep as the team fell 5-3 on Saturday. ODU was listed 72nd in the most recent RPI rankings.
Luke Waters had a solid weekend against South Alabama, batting 6-for-10 (.600) with a 1.200 slugging percentage and a .615 on-base percentage. The junior outfielder from Laurel, Delaware collected multiple hits and drove in at least one run in all three games versus USA, raising his average from a .311 to a team-high .340 clip. He added two solo home runs, three runs scored, four RBIs, two walks, one sacrifice fly and a stolen base to his totals. He also leads ODU with 24 RBIs this season and is 15-for-16 on stolen base attempts, good for 27th in the country.
Kyle Edwards follows Waters with a .287 average, Steven Meier is hitting .273, and Kenny Levari comes into Tuesday's game batting .264. Meier leads the Monarchs with 26 runs and currently ranks eighth nationally in stolen bases (17) and 16th in stolen bases per game (0.63). ODU is hitting .242 as a team and is 57-for-69 when trying to steal.
Nick Sulpizio (0-0, 9.95 ERA) will get the start in what will be a staff day for the Monarchs. ODU's team ERA of 4.07 ranks 25th in all of Division I. The team is also sixth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.15), 11th in walks allowed per nine innings (3.18), 14th in WHIP (1.26), and 31st in hits allowed per nine innings (8.15).
Scouting Virginia
The Cavaliers (22-6, 7-5 ACC) have won seven of their last nine games and were listed 10th in the latest RPI rankings. After securing a 15-5 win over Richmond last Tuesday, Virginia traveled to Durham, North Carolina over the weekend to face ACC rival Duke, who was ranked 11th in the D1 Baseball Poll. The Wahoos dropped the opener 9-4 on Thursday, but evened the series with a 7-3 win on Friday. However, Saturday's rubber match went to the Blue Devils by a final score of 7-3.
UVA has one of the best offenses in the country. The Cavaliers are the national leaders in hits (361), doubles (87) and doubles per game (3.11) and also rank second in batting average (.347), third in runs scored (288) and runs per game (10.3), fifth in on-base percentage (.442) and ninth in slugging percentage (.571). On defense, the team has turned 25 double plays, good for 22nd in the country.
Jacob Florence leads Virginia's starters with a .456 average, Casey Saucke is next at .390, Henry Godbout is hitting .280 and Henry Ford fourth at .360. Godbout ranks eighth nationally with 13 doubles and 19th with 0.48 doubles per game. Harrison Didawick (.336) comes into Tuesday ranked eighth in runs (42), 11th in RBIs (40), 12th in runs per game (1.50), 19th in home runs (12) and 28th in RBIs per game (1.43) and total bases (81). Saucke is 14th in hits (46) and 28th in hits per game (1.64) while Luke Hanson (.281) is sixth nationally in both sacrifice bunts (7) and sac bunts per game (0.29).
Right hander Joe Savino, a graduate transfer from Elon, will make his first start and appearance for the Cavaliers on Tuesday. In three seasons with the Phoenix, he posted a 7-9 record with a 3.94 ERA through 50 appearances and 169 innings pitched. UVA owns a team ERA of 5.53 with teams batting .278 against them.
The Series
Tuesday marks the second of three games against Virginia this season, with the Cavaliers set to come to Norfolk on April 16 to play in the Commonwealth Classic at Harbor Park. Then-No. 14 UVA hosted ODU on Feb. 21 in Charlottesville, a game that went to the Cavaliers, 8-0. With the loss, ODU's lead in the all-time series now stands at 29-28.
Up Next
ODU will be in Conway, South Carolina this weekend for a Sun Belt series at No. 20 Coastal Carolina. The two teams will play at 6 p.m. on Friday, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Monarchs and No. 15 Cavaliers Square off for the Second Time this Season
