Old Dominion (27-23, 13-14 Sun Belt) at Georgia State (24-29, 12-15 Sun Belt)
Game Location – GSU Baseball Complex (Atlanta, Georgia)
Game 1 – Thursday, May 16 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Friday, May 17 at 6 p.m.
Game 3 – Saturday, May 18 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 closes out the regular season this week with a Sun Belt series at Georgia State. The two teams begin play with a 6 p.m. start to the series opener on Thursday, play again at 6 p.m. on Friday, and return to the GSU Baseball Complex for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
Fans can watch all three games on ESPN+ and follow along with live stats.
Around the Horn
Steven Meier hit a walkoff solo home run in the bottom of the 12th inning last Sunday as the Monarchs (27-23, 13-14 Sun Belt) defeated App State, 11-10 in their final game played at Bud Metheny Ballpark before construction begins on the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex. ODU was scheduled to play the second game of a home-and-home series versus the University of Richmond on Tuesday, but the contest was canceled due to inclement weather in the area.
Luke Waters leads the team at the plate with a .316 average, Kyle Edwards is next at .291, Kenny Levari is batting .268 and Maverick Stallings, who was named to the Sun Belt Baseball Podcast’s Starting Nine of the Week, owns a .264 clip. Stallings hit .333 (4-for-12) with an .833 slugging percentage against the Mountaineers and homered twice on Sunday. The first was a grand slam to give ODU a 5-0 lead in the second inning, and the second homer was a solo shot that tied the game at 6-6 in the seventh. He finished the series with seven RBIs.
Levari and Waters have driven in 41 and 37 runs, respectively, while Edwards has scored 39 runs and Meier 37. Waters has gone yard nine times, though Levari and Stallings are right behind him with eight homers each. On the basepaths, Meier is 23-for-24 when attempting to steal, Waters is 18-for-22, and Edwards is 14-for-19. The Monarchs are batting .248 as a team with a .392 slugging percentage and a .345 on-base percentage.
Jacob Gomez (1-2, 2.70 ERA) will start on Thursday with starters for Friday and Saturday not named yet. Through games played on May 14, ODU is 77th in the RPI and ranks 13th in Division I in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.79), 14th in WHIP (1.29) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.38), 24th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.27), and 27th in ERA (4.47). Opponents are batting .243 against Monarch pitching.
Old Dominion is currently in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings alongside Coastal Carolina and South Alabama with the three games remaining in conference play. The top six seeds for the conference tournament will secure a spot in the double-elimination bracket, while seeds seven through 10 will play a pair of single-elimination games next Tuesday.
Scouting Georgia State
The Panthers (24-29, 12-15) are currently ranked 98th in the RPI and are tied for 10th in the conference standings alongside Texas State. GSU dropped its series opener at Coastal Carolina 17-13 last Saturday, but won the first game of a Sunday doubleheader 10-9 before falling to the Chanticleers 17-7 in the second game of the twin bill.
GSU is batting .286 as a team with a .514 slugging percentage and a .383 on-base percentage. Will Mize leads the team with a .350 batting average and ranks 11th nationally in hits (82) and 22nd in total bases (150). He’s also third in the Sun Belt with 1.55 hits per game and fourth in home runs at 16 and owns the team highs in runs (56) and RBIs (58). Also hitting over the .300 mark are Brennan Hudson (.322), JoJo Jackson (.319), and Michael Maginnis (.307). Jackson follows Mize with 14 long balls this season and Maginnis is the top threat to steal with 19 swiped bags on 24 attempts, good for fifth in the SBC. Georgia State is the league leader in home runs (100) and home runs per game (1.89).
Right hander Kameron Douglas (0-2, 7.50 ERA) will start the first game of the series. The starters for the other two games are still to be determined. GSU’s arms own a combined ERA of 7.27 with opposing batters hitting .290 against them. Defensively, the Panthers rank 12th in the country with 48 double plays turned and are 21st with 0.91 double plays turned per game.
Head coach Brad Stromdahl is in his fifth season with the program. GSU was picked to finish 11th in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
The Series
GSU took two of three games at The Bud last year to close out the 2023 regular season and push its lead in the all-time series to 16-14. ODU led 4-2 through eight innings in the opener last year, but the visitors plated two runs in the ninth and another in the 10th to secure a 5-4 come-from-behind win. The Panthers earned the series win with a 4-0 final in the second game, but the Monarchs avoided the sweep by edging the guests 7-6 in the series finale. Down 6-3 midway through the sixth, Hunter Fitz-Gerald tied the game with a three-run home run in the home half of the inning. A Kenny Levari solo blast in the eighth proved to be the decisive run.
Get Your Gear!
Need some ODU gear to rep the Monarchs? The ODU Bookstore has you covered as the on-field hats the Monarchs wear during games are now in stock.
Up Next
The 2024 Sun Belt Championship will be held on May 21-26 at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama. Each game will be streamed on ESPN+ and the Championship title game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. ET start on Sunday, May 26. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Championship website here.