Old Dominion (21-22, 9-12 Sun Belt) vs. VCU (23-20, 12-9 A-10)
Game Location – Ellmer Family Baseball Complex (Norfolk, Va.)
When – Tuesday, April 28 at 6 p.m.
Watch – ESPN+
Live Stats – Click Here
Tickets – Click Here
Social Media – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Baseball will be back home this Tuesday as the Monarchs host the second game of a home-and-home series versus VCU. First pitch at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Andy Mashaw providing play-by-play. Live stats will also be available.
Game Day Information
Fans planning to attend Tuesday’s game 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
Tuesday will mark the second meeting between the two teams this season. VCU hosted ODU at The Diamond back on Wednesday, March 4, a game that went to the Monarchs, 12-10. Trailing 10-8 through seven innings, the Silver and Blue scored four runs in the last two innings to rally for the road victory. After a Macaddin Dye solo home run in the eighth, a Rams throwing error allowed Will Johnson and Zach Leite to score in the ninth. Dye then added some insurance with a sacrifice fly. On the mound, Bailey Matela earned his first win of the season after tossing two shutout innings to help seal the victory. He struck out a pair of VCU batters and didn’t allow anyone to reach base.
With the win, the Monarchs extended their lead in the all-time series to 95-61.
Around the Horn
The Monarchs (21-22, 9-12 Sun Belt) dropped two of three games at Georgia State over the weekend. After taking the series opener, 10-2 on Friday, the Panthers evened the Sun Belt series with a 10-4 final on Saturday. In the Sunday rubber match, Nick Felton homered twice and drove in five runs to help build a 6-1 lead. ODU went into the bottom of the ninth ahead 7-2, but a Cole Griffith grand slam highlighted a five-run inning as the hosts forced extra innings. GSU’s Will Maginnis then walked it off with a solo home run in the bottom of the 10th.
Efrain Morales leads the team with a .347 batting average. Leite is hitting .325 and ranks 25th in Division I with 53 RBIs and is second in the Sun Belt with 1.23 RBIs per game and five sac flies. Leite has been hit by pitch 14 times, good for fourth in the conference, and is fifth with 0.33 hits by pitch per game. Other starters hitting over .300 include Tyler Zedalis (.316), Johnson (.314), and Stallings (.306). Felton is hitting .257 and currently ranks fifth nationally with 0.29 sac bunts per game and he’s seventh in DI with 10 sac bunts. TJ Aiken (.253) is third in the SBC with 36 walks and 0.84 walks per game. He also leads ODU with 12 stolen bases on 15 attempts.
As a team, the Monarchs are hitting a combined .282 with a .419 slugging percentage and a .388 on-base percentage, which is fifth-best in the league. ODU is also fourth in shutouts (2) and sac flies (22). The team is scoring 6.6 runs per game, but is allowing 7.3.
Cole Lanford (1-1, 6.84 ERA) will get the start on Tuesday. The sophomore left-hander has allowed 24 runs, 19 of them earned, on 35 hits and 16 walks. He has recorded the third-most strikeouts on the team with 27 through 15 appearances and 25 innings pitched. The Monarchs have a team ERA of 6.82 with opponents batting .310 against them.
Through games played on April 25, ODU is listed 134th in the RPI rankings.
Scouting VCU
The Rams (23-20, 12-9 A-10) also dropped their series over the weekend, falling 2-1 and 8-4 at the University of Richmond last Friday and Saturday. VCU avoided the sweep with a 2-1 victory on Sunday. Zach Peters picked up his fifth save of the season after tossing four shutout innings in relief. He held the Spiders to two hits, didn’t issue a walk, and struck out six. The win also snapped VCU’s six-game losing streak.
Jacob Lee (.327) and Nick Flores (.300) are the top two hitters for the Rams. Lee has hit a team-high 12 home runs and owns a .623 slugging percentage, ranking fifth in the A-10 in both categories. Flores is 17th in the country with 0.43 doubles per game and is second in his conference with 15 doubles. Lee and Michael Petite (.256) have scored 43 and 41 runs, respectively. Lee also leads the Rams with 40 RBIs and 29 walks. On the basepaths, Flores and Petite are both 14-for-15 on stolen-base attempts while Dante DeFranco (.285) is 12-for-12 and Lee is 9-for-12.
VCU is hitting .259 as a team with a .425 slugging percentage and a .369 on-base percentage. The Rams rank third in the Atlantic 10 with 27 sac bunts and are scoring 6.3 runs per game while holding opponents to 5.2.
VCU has the best ERA in their conference at 4.36. The Rams also lead their league with 8.13 hits allowed per nine innings, are second in WHIP (1.42), and fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.4), walks allowed per nine innings (4.67), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.81). Opposing batters are hitting .241 against them.
The latest RPI rankings have the Rams a few spots ahead of the Monarchs at 131.
Up Next
ODU hosts Arkansas State for a Sun Belt series this weekend. Friday’s series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday’s game will start at 3 p.m., and Sunday’s series finale will begin at 1 p.m.