Old Dominion (12-22, 7-8 Sun Belt) vs. Louisiana (17-22, 8-7 Sun Belt)
Game Location – Harbor Park (Norfolk, Va.)
Game 1 – Thursday, April 17 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Friday, April 18 at 3 p.m.
Game 3 – Saturday, April 19 at 1 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM (Game 2)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Tickets – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball returns to Harbor Park this week as the Monarchs host Louisiana for a Sun Belt Conference series. Thursday’s series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., Friday’s game will begin at 3 p.m., and Saturday is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Ted Alexander will cover the first two games, while Andy Mashaw will call the series finale. Friday’s game can also be heard on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM. Live stats will also be available.
Tickets for single games at Harbor Park can be purchased through ODUSports.com/baseball-tickets and cost $12. Additionally, a six-game Harbor Park pass is also available for purchase for $50. For those fans wishing to bring a group of 10 or more, please contact Director of Ticket Sales Steven Landry at 757-683-3360 or by email at slandry@odu.edu.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (12-22, 7-8 Sun Belt) won two of three games at Georgia Southern last weekend, but suffered a 16-13 setback to VCU on Tuesday night at War Memorial Stadium. ODU led 9-7 through four innings, but the Rams used a six-run sixth inning to jump ahead and held off a late Monarch rally.
Old Dominion is currently in a four-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings alongside Georgia Southern, Texas State and Arkansas State. The Monarchs had jumped up to 69th in the RPI rankings after the series win over the Eagles, but Tuesday’s loss dropped them down to 94th.
Zach Leite continues to lead ODU’s bats with a .352 average. Scotty Young enters the series batting .342, Efrain Morales is next at .297, and Kyle Edwards owns a .289 clip. Leite and Kainen Jorge (.273) share the team lead in RBIs with 23 each. Edwards and Jorge have scored 28 and 25 runs, respectively, and TJ Aiken (.247) has drawn a team-high 24 walks. Edwards is also 19-for-20 on stolen base attempts and leads the Sun Belt in stolen bases and stolen bases per game (0.56). As a team, the Monarchs are hitting a combined .253 with a .384 slugging percentage and a .360 on-base percentage.
ODU will start lefthanders Ben Moore (2-4, 6.50 ERA) on Thursday, Dylan Brown (2-2, 4.15 ERA) on Friday, and Blake Morgan (3-2, 4.71 ERA) on Saturday. Brown is the conference leader in both strikeouts (64) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.08). The Monarchs are currently fourth in the league with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings and own a team ERA of 6.57. Opposing batters are hitting .276 against them.
Scouting Louisiana
The Ragin’ Cajuns (17-22, 8-7 Sun Belt) played at ULM last weekend. After taking the series opener 9-3 last Friday, they fell 4-3 in 10 innings on Saturday and dropped the rubber match 3-2 on Sunday. The team comes into the week tied with Georgia State for fifth in the conference standings and are listed 119th in the RPI rankings.
Conor Higgs leads Louisiana’s starters with a .333 average and ranks second in the Sun Belt with 12 home runs and third with a .682 slugging percentage. He also leads the team with 27 RBIs, 38 runs, and 23 walks. Caleb Stelly and Owen Galt are both hitting .292, and Lee Amedee (.278) has hit 13 doubles, good for second in the league. The Ragin’ Cajuns are second in the conference and 11th in the nation with 30 sacrifice bunts. They’re also second in the SBC with 60 stolen bases and 1.54 stolen bases per game. Brooks Wright (.247) is the top threat on the basepaths with a 9-for-10 success rate when attempting to steal. The team is hitting .252 with a .377 slugging percentage and a .354 on-base percentage.
ODU batters will face lefty Chase Morgan (3-1, 2.43 ERA) on Thursday, lefty Andrew Herrmann (2-3, 4.70 ERA) on Friday, and right hander JR Tollett (3-3, 3.40 ERA) on Saturday. Tollett is currently third in the conference and 26th in Division I with 1.51 walks allowed per nine innings. Louisiana pitchers own a combined ERA of 5.61 with opponents batting .266 against them.
The Series
ODU and Louisiana met for the first time last season when the Monarchs traveled to Lafayette on March 22-24. The Ragin’ Cajuns won all three games by scores of 3-0, 13-1 in seven innings, and 2-0.
The two teams then played again on May 22 in the Sun Belt Championship in Montgomery, Alabama, a game that went to the Monarchs, 7-3. Kenny Levari opened the scoring with a two-out solo home run in the top of the first. ODU then added another six runs on five hits and one error in the fourth. Old Dominion shut out the top-seeded Cajuns, who were ranked 21st, until the bottom of the eighth when they plated three runs.
Up Next
ODU will be in Monroe, Louisiana next weekend for a Sun Belt series at ULM.