Old Dominion (7-14, 3-3 Sun Belt) at ETSU (18-5, 2-1 SoCon)
Game Location – Thomas Stadium (Johnson City, Tennessee)
Start Time – Wednesday, March 26 at 3 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+
Live Stats – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball starts a five-game road trip this Wednesday as the Monarchs head to Johnson City, Tennessee for a matchup against East Tennessee State.
Wednesday’s game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (7-14, 3-3 Sun Belt) fell 3-1 to Georgia State Sunday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton. ODU had won the previous two meetings versus Georgia State, 12-4 on Friday and 8-5 on Saturday, but could not complete the Sun Belt series sweep of the Panthers.
Zach Leite leads ODU with a .350 batting average. Following him are Kyle Edwards (.316), Efrain Morales (.291), Scotty Young (.286) and Tahraun Hammond (.279). Edwards (.316) has scored 17 runs, Luke Waters owns 14 RBIs, and Kainen Jorge has scored 14 times with 10 RBIs and a team-high 16 walks. The Monarchs are 26-for-29 when attempting to steal, with Edwards improving to a perfect 12-for-12 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 .251 with a .375 slugging percentage and a .351 on-base percentage.
Freshman right hander Jayce Park (0-1, 5.40 ERA) will make his first career start on Wednesday in what will be a staff day for ODU. The Monarchs have a team ERA of 6.41 with opponents batting .251 against them.
Scouting East Tennessee State
The Buccaneers (18-5, 2-1 SoCon) currently have the best record in the Southern Conference standings. ETSU won two of three games against Samford last weekend, but is coming off a 13-7 loss to Samford on Sunday at Thomas Stadium.
Alex Melendez leads ETSU and is ninth in the SoCon with a .349 batting average. Cody Miller follows him with a .345 average, Cooper Torres is batting .344, and Grant Gallagher enters the week hitting .349. Gallagher leads the team with 30 runs and 12 home runs this season. Torres follows him with 26 runs, and right behind him is Miller with 25.
The Bucs are currently third in Division I with 2.35 home runs per game, is fourth in both home runs (54) and slugging percentage (.594), and 15th in batting average (.321). ETSU leads its conference with eight triples and 0.35 triples per game and is second in the SoCon with 252 hits and 8.7 runs per game.
Wednesday will also be a staff day for the Bucs, and ETSU will start left hander Derek McCarley (0-0, 3.38 ERA). The Buccaneers have a combined ERA of 3.57 with opposing teams hitting .321 against them.
The Series
Wednesday’s game against ETSU will be the first match between the two teams.
Up Next
ODU continues Sun Belt Conference play with three games at App State this weekend. The Monarchs and Mountaineers will play at 6 p.m. on Friday, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.