Old Dominion (9-20, 5-7 Sun Belt) at Norfolk State (1-22, 1-11 NEC)
Game Location – Marty L. Miller Field
Start Time – Tuesday, April 8 at 3 p.m.
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM
Live Stats – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball will head across town to play a 3 p.m. game at Norfolk State on Tuesday.
Andy Mashaw and Ted Alexander will cover the game on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM, and live stats will also be available.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (9-20, 5-7 Sun Belt) earned another win over a ranked team on Sunday, their third of the season, as ODU defeated No. 20 Troy, 9-5 at Harbor Park. Kyle Edwards homered twice, Efrain Morales recorded his first career four-hit game, Blake Morgan improved to 3-2 after holding the Trojans to one run over 5.1 innings, and Bailey Matela picked up his third save. The win also marked Head Coach Chris Finwood’s 400th in his time leading the program.
Zach Leite leads the team with a .356 batting average, Morales is hitting .298, and Edwards enters the week with a .280 clip. Edwards and TJ Aiken (.240) have both hit four home runs, while Leite has team highs with eight doubles and 20 RBIs. Edwards has scored 21 runs and leads ODU with 14 stolen bases on 15 attempts. Kainen Jorge (.245) is close behind Edwards with 19 runs and has drawn 18 walks. The Monarchs are hitting .247 as a team with a .373 slugging percentage and a .351 on-base percentage.
Tuesday will be a staff day for the Monarchs. ODU pitching has a team ERA of 6.50 with opposing teams batting .275 against them.
The Monarchs are 88th in the latest RPI rankings.
Scouting Norfolk State
The Spartans (1-22, 1-11 Northeast Conference) are looking to snap a six-game losing streak after getting swept by Le Moyne on March 29-30 and falling 26-6 to VMI last Tuesday. NSU’s lone win of the season came on March 21, an 11-7 victory at Fairleigh Dickinson.
Norfolk State has three players hitting over .300: Jaydan Israel has the best average at .362, Justin Journette is next at .341, and Jalan Jones is batting .333. Journette has homered nine times, good for second in the NEC and 30th nationally at 0.39 home runs per game. He’s also first on the team with 23 RBIs and 22 runs. Jones and Jamal Ritter (.298) have both homered seven times and scored 19 runs, with Jones up to 18 RBIs and Ritter close behind him with 16. The pair are also the top two threats to steal: Jones is 6-for-7 and Ritter is 6-for-8.
The Spartans come into Tuesday’s game hitting a combined .265 and a .357 on-base percentage. Their .471 slugging percentage ranks second in their conference. The team leads their league with 36 homers and rank 28th nationally with 1.57 home runs per game.
Norfolk State has not named a starting pitcher for Tuesday’s game. NSU has a combined ERA of 12.15 and is allowing opponents to hit .352 against them. They lead their conference with 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Spartans find themselves listed 304th in the RPI through games played on April 6.
The Series
ODU and NSU last met on March 7, 2023 at Bud Metheny Ballpark, with the Monarchs winning by a final score of 16-7. The visitors took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but Old Dominion put up crooked numbers in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings to pull away. Landen Burch earned the win after holding NSU to one run on one hit in 4.1 innings in relief. Robbie O’Neal went 3-for-5, homered twice, scored three times, drove in four runs and added one walk.
With the win, ODU improved to 42-9 in the all-time series. The Monarchs have won eight of the last nine meetings. Tuesday’s game will mark the first time since May 11, 2013 that NSU will host ODU. The teams played a home-and-home series that season, with ODU winning 8-3 at The Bud on May 10 before coming up short, 4-2 at Marty L. Miller Field.
Up Next
The Monarchs will travel to Statesboro, Georgia this weekend for a Sun Belt series at Georgia Southern. The two teams will play at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.