Old Dominion (13-24, 8-10 Sun Belt) at ULM (20-21, 6-12 Sun Belt)
Game Location – Lou St. Amant Field (Monroe, La.)
Game 1 – Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, April 26 at 3 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball is on the road in Monroe, Louisiana this week for a Sun Belt meeting with the ULM Warhawks. Friday’s series opener is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET start at Lou St. Amant Field. The teams will then play again at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday and at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday.
All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (13-24, 8-10 Sun Belt) dropped two of three games to Louisiana last weekend at Harbor Park. ODU led 5-3 heading into the ninth inning last Friday, but the Ragin’s Cajuns plated two runs to pull even and then won the series opener 6-5 in 10 innings. Evan Holman evened the series with a walkoff single on Saturday as the Monarchs were on the right side of a 6-5 final. However, Louisiana shut out ODU, 10-0 in Sunday’s rubber match.
Old Dominion is currently in a three-way tie for eighth place in the Sun Belt Standings alongside Texas State and Arkansas State. The Monarchs are also 119th in the latest RPI rankings. ODU is batting .254 with a .379 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage.
Scotty Young leads ODU’s bats with a .342 average. Zach Leite enters the series batting .333, and Efrian Morales is hitting .307. Kainen Jorge leads the Monarchs in RBIs with 24, though Leite and Kyle Edwards (.284) are right behind him with 23 each and Luke Waters (.241) owns 21. Jorge and Leite have combined to hit 19 doubles, Edwards has scored a team-high 31 runs, and Jorge is second with 29 runs. Edwards is also the league leader in both steals (20) and steals per game (0.54).
Ben Moore (2-4, 6.21 ERA), Dylan Brown (2-2, 4.19 ERA), and Blake Morgan (3-3, 5.07 ERA) will make up the starting rotation for ODU. Brown ranks 24th in the country and second in the Sun Belt with 72 strikeouts. He’s also first in the conference with 12.07 strikeouts per nine innings. The Monarchs have a team ERA of 6.55 with opposing teams batting .279 against them.
Scouting ULM
The Warhawks (20-21, 6-12 Sun Belt) were scheduled to play at Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night, but the game was postponed due to scattered thunderstorms in Ruston. ULM made the trip to Troy last weekend, falling 9-3 and 11-1 to the No. 20 Trojans in the first two games. They avoided getting swept with a 7-3 victory last Saturday.
ULM has four starters hitting over the .300 mark: Isaiah Walker leads the team with a .331 average, Henry Garcia Jr. is batting .316, and Bryce Blaser and Colby Lunsford are both hitting .308. Garcia Jr. and Lunsford have combined to hit 11 home runs, Garcia Jr. leads the team with 36 RBIs, and Walker and Garcia have scored 31 and 29 runs, respectively. Walker is 19-for-22 when attempting to steal, good for second in the SBC in stolen bases and stolen bases per game (0.49), and is also 29th in Division I with four triples. Garcia Jr. is also a threat on the basepaths with 12 steals on 15 attempts.
The team is 154th in the RPI rankings and is tied for 12th in the conference standings with Marshall and James Madison. ULM is 21st in the nation in sacrifice bunts (28), 22nd in triples (14), and 26th in triples per game (0.34). The Warhawks are batting .262 as a team and own a .405 slugging percentage with a .347 on-base percentage.
ODU will face right hander Daniel Gonzalez (3-2, 6.18 ERA) on Friday and lefty Brennan Eager (4-2, 2.68 ERA) on Saturday. The Warhawks have not named a starter for Sunday. ULM comes into the weekend with a team ERA of 5.94 and is allowing opponents to hit .279 against them.
The Series
ODU and ULM have played six games against each other, a series that has the Monarchs leading, 5-1. Old Dominion swept the Warhawks two seasons ago in Monroe, with final scores of 5-3, 13-1 and 6-2. ODU then hosted ULM on April 26-28 last season. After defeating ULM 2-1 in 12 innings in the series opener, the guests evened the series with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings. The Monarchs then took the rubber match, 15-5 in eight innings.
Up Next
ODU will host Marshall for three games at War Memorial Stadium next weekend, May 2-4.