Old Dominion (20-20, 8-10 Sun Belt) at Georgia State (20-21, 8-10 Sun Belt)
Game Location – GSU Baseball Complex (Atlanta, Ga.)
Game 1 – Friday, April 24 at 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, April 25 at 4 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+ (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
Listen – Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM
Live Stats – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Social Media – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball is on the road in Atlanta this weekend as the Monarchs take on the Georgia State Panthers in Sun Belt action. Friday’s series opener at the GSU Baseball Complex is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. The two teams will return for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday and round out the series with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+, and Ted Alexander will also cover the series on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM. Live stats will also be available.
The Series
ODU hosted GSU at War Memorial Stadium on March 21-23 last season. The Monarchs cruised to a 12-4 victory in the first game as they outhit the Panthers, 16-7. They also got a strong outing from Ben Moore, who held GSU to one run on two hits and two walks. He recorded two strikeouts in five innings of work. Old Dominion then secured the series victory with an 8-5 final in game two. Dylan Brown recorded eight strikeouts and picked up the win, Bailey Matela collected the save, and Kyle Edwards finished 3-for-4 and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Georgia State avoided the sweep though with a 3-1 win in the series finale.
The two teams have previously met 36 times with the all-time series tied at 18-18.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (20-20, 8-10 Sun Belt) hosted East Carolina on Tuesday in the second game of a home-and-home series between the two teams. Efrain Morales gave ODU an early 1-0 lead with his first home run of the season and starting pitcher Jackson Okonkwo kept the Pirates off the board for three innings, but the guests took over the game with eight runs in the fourth inning and seven more in the fifth. ODU countered with a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth, but the gap was too large and ECU held on, 19-9 in a seven-inning game.
Morales is hitting .344 to lead ODU at the plate. Following him are Tyler Zedalis (.331), Zach Leite (.329), Will Johnson (.329), Maverick Stallings (.306), and Scotty Young (.301). Leite, a senior first baseman from Dana Point, California, enters the weekend as the Sun Belt leader in sacrifice flies with five. He’s also second in the league with 50 RBIs and 1.25 RBIs per game and is fourth in hit by pitch (14) and hit by pitch per game (0.35). Nick Felton (.226) ranks second in the country with 0.31 sac bunts per game and the freshman is also fifth nationally with 10 sac bunts. TJ Aiken (.268) is third in the league with 34 walks and 0.85 walks per game. The senior outfielder from Greenwood, South Carolina is also 12-for-15 on stolen-base attempts. He and Leite have both scored 35 runs. Zedalis and Stallings shared the team lead in home runs with nine each.
The Silver & Blue are hitting .285 as a team with a .420 slugging percentage and a .388 on-base percentage. ODU ranks fourth in the SBC with two shutouts and 20 sac flies. The Monarchs are also scoring 6.6 runs per game while allowing 7.4 runs.
ODU’s weekend rotation will see Darin Kuskie (2-6, 8.48 ERA) starting game one and JJ Gatti (0-3, 4.17 ERA) on the mound for game two. The Monarchs have not named a starting pitcher for the series finale. Kuskie is the team’s strikeout leader with 39, though Gatti isn’t far behind him with 32. Old Dominion pitchers have combined for a 6.88 ERA with opposing teams batting .314 against them.
Through games played on April 22, the Monarchs are 141st in RPI.
Scouting Georgia State
The Panthers (20-21, 8-10 Sun Belt) did not have a midweek game and are coming off a 2-1 Sun Belt series loss at No. 7 Coastal Carolina last weekend. CCU downed Georgia State 15-7 in the first game and 7-2 in the second. However, GSU secured its second ranked win of the season with an 11-5 final to game three. Trailing the Chanticleers, 5-2 through five complete, the Panthers pulled even with two runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh. They then plated six runs on two hits, two walks, and three hits batters in the eighth.
Georgia State has three starters hitting over .300: John Beverley (.396), Sam Silas (.313), and Cole Griffith (.311). Beverley leads the conference and is 24th in Division I in batting average. The sophomore outfielder is also the top threat on the basepaths, ranking 11th in the nation with 27 stolen bases and 23rd with 0.68 steals per game. Hunter Carlson (.263) owns a team-high 36 RBIs, followed by Beverley with 32 and Wills Maginnis (.293) with 31. Beverley and Maginnis have scored 34 runs each, while Carlson has scored 33 times. Maginnis leads the SBC with five sac flies, and Nick Garagozzo is sixth in the country with five triples and also 10th with 0.13 triples per game.
GSU is hitting a combined .263 as a team with a .378 slugging percentage and a .368 on-base percentage. The Panthers are 18th in DI with 13 triples and 28th with 0.32 triples per game. They also rank 18th nationally with 32 sac bunts, are third in the Sun Belt with 68 stolen bases, and are fourth in the conference with 1.66 steals per game. The team averages 6.4 runs per game while allowing 6.7.
On the mound, the Panthers will start left-hander Cooper Lewis (1-1, 6.89 ERA) on Friday, right-hander Michael Caruso (4-5, 6.23 ERA) on Saturday, and righty Cole Roberts (1-2, 5.56 ERA) on Sunday. Jake Hembree (2-1, 3.32 ERA) ranks second nationally with 4.36 hits allowed per nine innings and is also sixth in the conference with 10.38 strikeouts per nine innings. Brian Crooms (3-3, 7.91 ERA) has hit 16 batters, the sixth-most in the country, while Will Bartkoski (3-0, 4.02 ERA) owns four saves and is 32nd nationally with 13 hit batters. Georgia State pitchers have plunked 81 batters so far this season, the 15th-most in the country. The team is also fourth in the Sun Belt with 8.48 hits allowed per nine innings. GSU has a team ERA of 6.16 and opponents are hitting .250 against them.
Georgia State was picked to finish 12th in this year’s Sun Belt Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Panthers are led by seventh-year head coach Brad Stromdahl and are 113th in the latest RPI rankings.
Up Next
ODU will resume its home-and-home series versus VCU next Tuesday, April 28 in Norfolk. First pitch at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m.