Old Dominion (18-26, 12-12 Sun Belt) at James Madison (15-34, 8-16 Sun Belt)
Game Location – Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park (Harrisonburg, Va.)
Game 1 – Friday, May 9 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, May 10 at 4 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, May 11 at 1 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM (Games 1 & 2)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball takes the diamond against James Madison this weekend in a TowneBank Royal Rivalry series in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Friday’s first pitch at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday’s game will start at 4 p.m., and Sunday’s series finale is set for 1 p.m.
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+, and Andy Mashaw will also cover the first two games on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM. Fans can also follow along with live stats.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (18-26, 12-12 Sun Belt) won two of three games against Marshall last weekend and are coming off an 8-2 win at VCU on Wednesday night. A three-run home run from Maverick Stallings highlighted a five-run top of the first and five different ODU pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts. The game was called in the bottom of the seventh inning due to light failure at The Diamond.
ODU is currently 117th in the RPI rankings and is tied with Texas State for fifth in the conference standings.
Zach Leite leads the team with a .341 batting average, Efrain Morales is second with a .306 clip, and Stallings is hitting .297 heading into the weekend. Stallings and Kainen Jorge (.288) have both hit six home runs, while Jorge and Kyle Edwards (.283) share the team lead in RBIs with 30 each. Edwards has scored a team-best 36 runs and is also 22-for-23 when attempting to steal, good for second in the Sun Belt in stolen bases and third in stolen bases per game (0.50). As a team, the Monarchs are batting .259 with a .391 slugging percentage and a .367 on-base percentage.
The rotation will see Ben Moore (2-5, 6.97 ERA) start on Friday, Dylan Brown (3-2, 4.34 ERA) on Saturday, and Blake Morgan (4-3, 4.74 ERA) on Sunday. Brown is second in the league with 82 strikeouts and is the conference leader with 11.47 strikeouts per nine innings. Bailey Matela (1-1, 4.82 ERA) has earned five saves while Kellen Davis (0-3, 5.91 ERA) has three saves. ODU pitching has a combined ERA of 6.32 with opponents batting .277 against them.
Scouting James Madison
The Dukes (15-34, 8-16 Sun Belt) earned a 2-1 series win at Georgia Southern last weekend, but fell 6-4 to Maryland on Wednesday. The game was tied at 4-4 through nine innings, but the Terrapins plated two runs in the 10th on an RBI double and a runner scoring on a wild pitch.
JMU is currently 180th in the RPI and is tied for 12th in the Sun Belt standings.
Coleman Calabrese has the best average of JMU’s starters at .260. Following him are Kyle Langley (.253), Maddux Fleck (.241), and Reece Moody (.241). Wyatt Peifer is hitting .239 and owns team highs in home runs (6) and RBIs (31). Langley has scored 29 runs and is 15-for-17 on stolen base attempts while Moody is 13-for-15. The Dukes are sixth in the country with 50 sacrifice bunts and are ranked third in the SBC with 27 sac flies, 76 stolen bases, and 1.55 stolen bases per game. The team is batting .227 with a .333 slugging percentage and a .316 on-base percentage.
Max Kuhle (2-4, 3.54 ERA) will get the nod on Friday and Jackson Logar (4-3, 3.22 ERA) will start on Sunday. JMU has not named a starter for Saturday’s game. Logar has hit 24 batters, the most in all of Division I, and ranks 24th nationally with 6.02 hits allowed per nine innings. Kuhle owns three saves, Adam Horvath (2-1, 3.76 ERA) has two, and Jaden Kinsler (1-2, 7.98 ERA) has one. The Dukes enter the series with a team ERA of 5.66 and are allowing opposing batters to hit .267 against them.
The Series
ODU and JMU played four games against each other last season. The Monarchs took two of three games against the Dukes on April 12-14, 2024 at Bud Metheny Ballpark. Old Dominion won the series opener 7-1, JMU responded with a 7-5 final in Game Two, and ODU then took the rubber match 6-3. The two teams then met again on May 24 at the Sun Belt Championship, with the Monarchs falling 15-5 in eight innings to end their season.
Old Dominion holds a 61-52-1 lead in the all-time series.
Up Next
ODU will have its final midweek game of the regular season next Tuesday, a 2 p.m. contest at the University of Richmond.