Old Dominion (13-14, 3-6 Sun Belt) at No. 10 Virginia (22-7, 7-5 ACC)
Game Location – Davenport Field at Disharoon Park (Charlottesville, Va.)
When – Tuesday, March 31 at 6 p.m.
Watch – ACCNX
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM
Live Stats – Click Here
Social Media – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball will play a ranked opponent for the first time this season when the Monarchs travel to Charlottesville, Virginia on Tuesday to take on No. 10 Virginia. First pitch at Disharoon Park is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Fans will be able to stream the game on ACCNX and Ted Alexander can also be heard on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM. Live stats will also be available.
The Series
UVA hosted ODU on April 1 last season, a meeting that went to the Cavaliers, 11-5. The hosts scored in each of the first five innings and the Monarchs finally plated a run in the top of the fourth when Zach Leite scored from second on a Kainen Jorge standup double to the gap in right. ODU manufactured another four runs in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as UVA evened the all-time series at 30-30.
Old Dominion’s last win in the series came on April 16, 2024 when the Monarchs defeated the No. 10 Cavs, 7-4 in the Commonwealth Classic at Harbor Park.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (13-14, 3-6 Sun Belt) dropped two of three games at South Alabama over the weekend. After dropping the series opener 10-3 on Friday, ODU shut out the Jaguars, 2-0 on Saturday to even the series at a game apiece. The hosts then grabbed the Sunday rubber match, 12-1 in seven innings.
Leite, a senior first baseman from Dana Point, California, leads ODU at the plate with a .372 batting average. He enters the week ranked 17th in the country with 39 RBIs, 21st with 1.44 RBIs per game, and 27th with four sacrifice flies. Other Monarchs hitting .300 or better include Maverick Stallings (.327), Tyler Zedalis (.326), Macaddin Dye (.325), TJ Aiken (.317), and Will Johnson (.302). Dye has been hit by pitch nine times, the fourth-most in the Sun Belt. Aiken owns team highs of 29 runs and 20 walks and is also 10-for-11 when attempting to steal. Zedalis has hit a team-best five home runs, though Leite and Stallings are right behind him with four each.
As a team, the Monarchs are batting .291, good for fifth in the Sun Belt, and they own a .424 slugging percentage with a .390 on-base percentage. ODU is third in its conference with 54 doubles and fourth in the league in doubles per game (2.00), sac flies (15), and shutouts (2). The Monarchs average 6.5 runs per game, but have allowed 7.2 runs per game. The Silver and Blue have successfully stolen on 35 of 39 attempts.
Senior right-hander Ethan Hubbell (0-0, 6.39 ERA) will get the start against the Cavaliers. Through eight appearances and two starts, the Camas, Washington native has surrendered nine runs on 14 hits and eight walks. Hubbell has recorded 11 strikeouts in 12.2 innings pitched and opponents are hitting .275 against him. As a team, ODU has a 6.79 ERA with opposing batters hitting .304.
Saturday’s win at South Alabama did help the team jump up a bit in the RPI, moving from 216 to 186.
Scouting Virginia
The Cavaliers (22-7, 7-5 ACC) are ranked 10th in the latest D1Baseball Poll and eighth in RPI. They’re also 14th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, 19th in this week’s Baseball America Poll, and 19th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll. Virginia was in Brighton, Massachusetts this past weekend for an ACC series at Boston College. After falling 5-3 to the Eagles on Friday and 17-0 in seven innings on Saturday, the Cavs avoided getting swept with a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
UVA has four starters hitting over .300: Sam Harris (.354), Harrison Didawick (.351), AJ Gracia (.350), and Eric Becker (.339). Becker and Gracia are both tied for 16th nationally with 37 runs apiece. Becker is also 27th in Division I in both runs per game (1.32) and hit by pitch (12) and is fifth in the ACC with 11 doubles. Harris and Gracia have both homered eight times, Didawick has tripled twice, and Harris and Becker have driven in 31 runs each. Gracia and Noah Murray (.194) have walked 27 times each, and Didawick is 8-for-11 on stolen base attempts.
As a team, the Cavs rank third in the country with 185 walks, fifth with 273 runs scored, 11th with 9.4 runs per game, and 19th with 46 home runs. Virginia has a combined .288 batting average with a .503 slugging percentage and a .419 on-base percentage. The team has also stolen 28 bags on 35 attempts.
ODU batters will face right-hander Jayden Stroman (0-0, 5.49 ERA) on Tuesday. The freshman from Medford, New York has given up 14 runs, 12 of them earned, on 18 hits and 14 walks through five starts and 12 appearances. He has recorded 21 strikeouts over 19.2 innings of work and is holding opponents to a .234 clip. Virginia pitching owns a combined ERA of 5.24 with opponents hitting .254 against them.
Head coach Chris Pollard is in his first season at Virginia after previous coaching stints at Pfeiffer (2000-04), App State (2005-12), and Duke (2013-25). The Cavaliers were picked to finish seventh in the ACC’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Gracia, Becker, Joe Tiroly and Lucas Hartman were named NCBWA Preseason All-Americans. Gracia also received Preseason All-American nods from D1Baseball and Baseball America, Becker was named to Baseball America’s Preseason Player of the Year Watch List, and the pair were among 55 players named to the initial Golden Spikes Award Watch List.
Up Next
The Monarchs will host a Sun Belt series versus No. 8 Southern Miss this week. The two teams will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday, at 3 p.m. on Friday, and at noon on Saturday.