NORFOLK, Va. (ODUSports.com) – The Old Dominion University baseball team is the No. 11 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the No. 1 seed in the Columbia Regional and will take on Jacksonville (16-32) on Friday June 4 at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
This will be the first time in school history that ODU will be a No. 1 seed in the regional format. South Carolina and Virginia are the No. 2 and No. 3 seed in the regional and will open things up on Friday at noon.
The Conference USA Champions head into the NCAA Tournament with a 42-14 record having won seven-straight games and 10-of-11.
ODU is No. 8 in the country in RPI and are ranked No. 14 in the country by Baseball America.
Kyle Battle, a first-team All-Conference USA honoree, knocked a two-run homer in the top of the 10th in and Aaron Holiday shut the door to give the Monarchs a 7-5 victory over Louisiana Tech in the C-USA final.
The Monarchs lead the country with 101 home runs and are second in the country with a .553 slugging percentage.
Battle is tied for 13th in the country with 18 homers and is third in the country with 52 walks. He is currently tied for second with Patrick Nichols on ODU's single-season charts, just two away from Ron Walker's single-season record set in 1997. Battle is four walks away from Walker's single-season walks record of 56.
Freshman second baseman Carter Trice, the C-USA Freshman of the Year, leads the league in batting average, runs and hits, and is second in the league in homers and third in RBIs.
Starting pitchers Hunter Gregory and Ryne Moore earned All-Conference USA honors, as well as reliever Jason Hartline, who has a 1.62 ERA and a team-high 25 appearances out of the bullpen.
ODU was last in the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and played in the Columbia Regional.
For ticket information for the regional, click here.
