COLUMBIA, S.C. (ODUSports.com) – For the first time in school history, the Old Dominion University baseball team is a No. 1 seed in an NCAA Regional. The No. 1 seeded Monarchs take on No. 4 seed Jacksonville on Friday, June 4 at 7 p.m. on ESPN3 at Founders Park at the University of South Carolina.
The Conference USA champions, Old Dominion comes into the regional with a 42-14 mark and is the No. 11 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. ODU won four-consecutive games last week to win the C-USA Tournament, culminating in a 7-5 10 inning win over Louisiana Tech on Sunday. Kyle Battle hit the game-winner, delivering a two-run blast, his league-leading 18th, in the top of the 10th inning. Aaron Holiday shut the door in the 10th to secure the win.
Conference USA Freshman of the Year Carter Trice leads ODU with a .359 batting average. He is fourth in the league in average and leads all freshman in hits (78), runs scored (55) and total bases (138). Trice was named to the Collegiate Baseball All-America team today.
Battle leads the league with those 18 homers and is 14th in the country, while his 52 walks are third in the country and just four off of Ron Walker's single-season team record of 56 set back in 1997.
Andy Garriola leads the country with 72 RBIs. He is hitting .339 and is second on the club with 75 hits.
Hunter Gregory and Ryne Moore [odusports.com] lead ODU on the mound, combining for 18 victories. Gregory has a 2.84 ERA and has struck out 85 in 73 innings, while Moore has a 3.33 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 78.1 innings.
Jason Hartline and Noah Dean lead the bullpen. Hartline earned all-conference accolades with a 1.62. ERA, striking out 56 and walking just eight, while Dean was named to the all-freshman team and struck out 42 in just 19.1 innings.
About Jacksonville
The Dolphins are 16-32 on the year but won four-straight to win the Atlantic Sun Tournament with a 7-3 win over Liberty in the tournament final. Ruben Someillan leads the team with a .303 average. Christian Coipel has been the power threat for JU, hitting a team-high seven homers and 31 RBIs.
Tyler Santana leads the way on the mound for the Dolphins with a 5-7 record and 4.68 ERA. Jagger McCoy has five saves and a 4.57 ERA and has struck out 41 in 43.1 innings.
Regional reserved ticket books are $84. Individual game tickets are $15. The stadium will be cleared at the end of each game. Tickets are being sold by the South Carolina Ticket Office at 803-777-4274 or fans can go to Ticketmaster.com.
