Old Dominion (13-15, 3-6 Sun Belt) vs. No. 8 Southern Miss (21-8, 5-4 Sun Belt)
Game Location – Ellmer Family Baseball Complex (Norfolk, Va.)
Game 1 – Thursday, April 2 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m.
Game 3 – Saturday, April 4 at 12 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Social Media – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball resumes Sun Belt play with a conference series against No. 8 Southern Miss this week at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex. Thursday’s series opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, Friday’s game will have a 3 p.m. first pitch, and Saturday’s series finale will begin at noon.
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ted Alexander providing play-by-play, and live stats will also be available.
Saturday will also mark Teacher Appreciation and Youth Day at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex. There will be free admission for teachers with a valid school ID, and there will also be a raffle for teachers who enter to win a bag of school supplies courtesy of ODU Lacrosse. Kids will be able to run the bases postgame, and the Monarchs will also stay after for an autograph session.
Game Day Information
Fans planning to attend this week’s series will be able to park at the Elkhorn Garage, located on the corner of 43rd Street and Elkhorn Avenue, as well as in Lot 43 at the LR Hill Sports Complex. This year’s entrance to the stadium is located in the outfield next to ODU’s Chemistry Building, and temporary seating will be available in left center field. A Power Alley Patio, presented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), will feature a food truck and beer garden. Portable toilets have been set up outside, and fans will also be able to use restrooms inside of the Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building.
General admission tickets are $10 apiece, with faculty and military tickets priced at $8 and $5 for children ages 2-12. Fans can also purchase ODU Baseball Voucher Books here, which includes 25 tickets for $100 plus applicable fees.
New this year, Big Blue’s Kids Club members will receive free admission for all ODU Baseball home games. For more information and to sign up for the Kids Club, click here. For those wishing to do a group outing to the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex, please fill out an interest form here or reach out to ODU Director of Ticket Sales Steven Landry at slandry@odu.edu or by calling the ODU Ticket Office at 757-683-3360.
The Series
Old Dominion and Southern Miss have previously met 21 times, with the Golden Eagles ahead in the all-time series, 15-6.
Last season saw ODU opening Sun Belt play with three games in Hattiesburg on March 14-16 when USM was ranked 22nd. The hosts took the first two games, 11-2 and 11-4, but the Monarchs won the series finale, 4-1. Alumni Blake Morgan scattered six hits, didn’t issue a walk, and recorded six strikeouts in a seven-inning start.
The two teams then met again on Thursday, May 22 at the Sun Belt Championship after ODU defeated the third seed in the tournament, #22 Troy, 4-2 the day before. Then ranked No. 12 in the country, the second-seeded Golden Eagles handed the Monarchs their first loss in the double-elimination bracket, 10-0 in seven innings.
Around the Horn
A Tyler Zedalis home run and a Scotty Young RBI ground out helped cut into No. 10 Virginia’s lead, 4-2 in the top of the second inning, but the Monarchs (13-15, 3-6 Sun Belt) could not quiet the Cavaliers’ bats as ODU dropped its midweek game in Charlottesville, 16-2 on Tuesday night.
Zach Leite continues to lead ODU at the plate with a .361 batting average. He enters this week’s series ranked 22nd in the country with 39 RBIs, 24th with 1.39 RBIs per game, and 33rd with four sacrifice flies. Maverick Stallings is next with a .327 average, Zedalis is hitting .326, Macaddin Dye has a .313 clip, and TJ Aiken is batting .308. Zedalis has now hit a team-best six home runs, followed by Leite and Stallings with four each. Aiken and Leite have scored 29 and 26 runs, respectively, and Aiken leads the Monarchs with 21 walks and 10 stolen bases on 11 attempts.
As a team, Old Dominion is batting .288 with a .423 slugging percentage and a .387 on-base percentage. The Monarchs have been outscored by an average of 1.1 runs, scoring 6.4 runs per game while allowing 7.5. The team currently ranks third in the Sun Belt with 56 doubles and is fourth in the league in doubles per game (2.00), sac flies (15), and shutouts (2).
On the mound, the Monarchs will start three right-handers against the Golden Eagles. Darin Kuskie (2-4, 9.82 ERA) will have Thursday’s series opener. A transfer from USC Upstate, Kuskie leads ODU with 28 strikeouts. JJ Gatti (0-3, 5.06 ERA) will pitch on Friday and has struck out 19 while holding opponents to a .200 clip, and Nick Sulpizio (1-1, 8.40 ERA) will get the nod on Saturday. The Monarchs come into the series with a team ERA of 7.16 and opponents hitting .309 against them.
ODU jumped up 22 spots in the lates RPI rankings, moving from 187th to 165th.
Scouting Southern Miss
The Golden Eagles (21-8, 5-4) entered the week ranked eighth in the country by D1Baseball. They’re also 10th in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll, 13th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and 16th in the Baseball America Poll. USM hosted Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night, falling 5-1 to the Lions. SLU’s Brody Capps hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run fourth inning for the visitors.
USM’s offense is led by Kyle Morrison (.353), Joey Urban (.318), and Davis Gillespie (.309). Morrison, a senior infielder from Wetumpka, Alabama, leads the Sun Belt with 10 home runs, is second in the league with a .735 slugging percentage, third with 75 total bases, and fifth with 0.34 homers per game. Urban, a senior outfielder from Jupiter, Florida, ranks third in the conference with 24 walks and 0.83 walks per game and is also fourth with 32 runs scored. Morrison and Urban are tied for the team lead in RBIs with 28 each. A redshirt-junior outfielder from Birmingham, Alabama, Gillespie has doubled nine times and owns 23 runs with 21 RBIs.
Southern Miss is hitting a combined .264 as a team with a .436 slugging percentage and a .374 on-base percentage. The Golden Eagles come into the series ranked 25th nationally with 17 sac flies. The team is second in the conference with 140 walks and third with 35 homers and 1.21 home runs per game. USM has outscored opponents by an average of two runs, plating 5.9 runs per game while allowing just 3.9. Southern Miss has also stolen just four bags on seven attempts. Defensively, the team ranks 21st nationally with a .981 fielding percentage.
USM will start left-hander Grayden Harris (4-1, 3.58 ERA) on Thursday and right-hander Camden Sunstrom (2-1, 1.89 ERA) on Friday. The team has not announced a starter for Saturday. Harris ranks ninth in the country with seven starts and has recorded 40 strikeouts over 11 appearances and 33.1 innings. Sunstrom is currently 20th in DI with an 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 32nd with 1.35 walks allowed per nine innings. Camden Clark (4-0, 0.00 ERA) leads the SBC and ranks 22nd nationally with five saves. The Golden Eagles are third in Division I with 3.02 walks allowed per nine innings, eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.33), 13th in ERA (3.49), and 28th in WHIP (1.26). USM is also second in the SBC with 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings and third in the league with 8.32 hits allowed per nine innings. Opposing batters are hitting .245 against the Golden Eagless.
The loss to SLU dropped USM from ninth to 16th in the latest RPI rankings. The team is led by head coach Christian Ostrander, who is in his third season with the program. The Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches’ Poll, with Colby Allen, Tucker Stockman, and Ben Higdon earning spots on the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
Up Next
Old Dominion and William & Mary resume their home-and-home series next Tuesday, April 7 when the Monarchs travel to Williamsburg for a 6 p.m. meeting with the Tribe.