Old Dominion (4-10, 0-0 Sun Belt) at No. 22 Southern Miss (12-5, 0-0 SBC)
Game Location – Pete Taylor Park (Hattiesburg, Miss.)
Game 1 – Friday, March 14 at 7 p.m. EDT
Game 2 – Saturday, March 15 at 8 p.m. EDT
Game 3 – Sunday, March 16 at 1 p.m. EDT
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball has its first Sun Belt Conference series of the season this weekend as the Monarchs head to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to play No. 22 Southern Miss.
Friday’s opener is scheduled for a 7 p.m. EDT start. The two teams will then play again at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday and 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (4-10, 0-0 Sun Belt) fell 9-4 to Mississippi State on Tuesday night at Keesler Federal Park in Biloxi as part of the Hancock Whitney Classic. ODU scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to pull to within 7-4, but couldn’t catch the No. 22 Bulldogs as they responded with two more runs in the bottom of the frame. Zach Leite went 2-for-4 at the plate and hit his second home run of the season. MSU is ranked 22nd by Baseball America and 24th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) in this week’s polls.
Tahraun Hammond leads ODU with a .346 batting average. Following him are Leite (.333), Scotty Young (.316), Evan Holman (.276) and Kainen Jorge (.271). Kyle Edwards (.245) has driven in 10 runs and also scored 10 runs, Leite owns eight RBIs, and Jorge has scored 12 times with seven RBIs and a team-high 13 walks. The Monarchs are 20-for-23 when attempting to steal, with Edwards a perfect 9-for-9 so far. He’s second in the league in stolen bases and stolen bases per game (0.64). As a team, Old Dominion is batting .240 with a .335 slugging percentage and a .344 on-base percentage.
ODU will tweak its weekend rotation as junior right hander Ethan Hubbell (0-0, 4.26 ERA) will get the start on Friday. Lefthanders Dylan Brown (1-0, 3.63 ERA) and Blake Morgan (1-1, 5.73 ERA) will start on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Brown leads the conference and is 18th in the nation with 35 strikeouts. He’s also the Sun Belt leader and ranked 24th in Division I with 14.1 strikeouts per nine innings. The Monarchs have a team ERA of 6.47 with opponents batting .261 against them.
Scouting Southern Miss
The Golden Eagles (12-5, 0-0 SEC) are currently tied for second in the Sun Belt standings and are ranked 22nd by both D1 Baseball and the NCBWA. They’re also 25th in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll. USM won two of three games against UNCW last weekend and is coming off a 3-1 win over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday.
Jake Cook leads USM and is third in the SBC with a .452 batting average. Tucker Stockman follows him with a .387 average, Joey Urban is batting .296, and Nick Monistere enters the weekend hitting .290. Carson Paetow (.279) has his eight doubles so far this season, good for 25th nationally. Monistere and Matthew Russo (.286) have scored 12 runs each while Davis Gillespie (.270), Russo and Paetow have combined to hit 13 home runs. Ozzie Pratt (.274) is the national leader in sac flies with six.
The Golden Eagles are batting .281 as a team, rank third in the Sun Belt with a .472 slugging percentage, and own a .368 on-base percentage. The team is seventh nationally with 14 sacrifice flies, is second in the conference with 21 home runs, and third in the league with 38 doubles, 2.24 doubles per game, and 1.24 home runs per game.
On the hill, USM will start right hander JB Middleton (2-1, 2.25 ERA) on Friday, left hander Kros Sivley (2-0, 1.80 ERA) on Saturday, and lefty Grayden Harris (2-0, 0.93 ERA) on Sunday. Matthew Adams (2-1, 3.05 ERA) is second in the Sun Belt with a 7.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio and third in the conference with 1.31 walks allowed per nine innings. Colby Allen (2-1, 2.70 ERA) owns a 0.90 WHIP, good for second in the SBC, and his four saves this season rank ninth nationally. The Golden Eagles have a combined ERA of 4.17 with opposing teams hitting .243 against them.
The Series
Southern Miss leads the all-time series, 12-5. ODU hosted the Golden Eagles on April 6-8, 2023 with USM claiming two out of the three games. After the visitors grabbed the series opener 4-2 on Thursday, April 6, inclement weather on Friday led to a Saturday doubleheader at Bud Metheny Ballpark. The Monarchs evened the series with an 8-7 victory in the first game, but came up short 11-8 in the second.
Up Next
ODU wraps up its 18-game road swing with a 6 p.m. meeting with William & Mary this Tuesday, March 18 in Williamsburg.