Old Dominion arrives at DABOS Park in Montgomery on Tuesday night seeded eighth in a Sun Belt Conference field that includes the regular-season champion, a top-five Rating Percentage Index (RPI, a tournament-selection metric) team in Coastal Carolina, and a Georgia State squad that walked the Monarchs off in extra innings three weekends ago. First pitch against the No. 9 seed Panthers is 7:30 p.m. ET, single elimination, on ESPN+.
ODU (29-25, 15-15 Sun Belt) sits 100th in the RPI, a number that pins the program’s NCAA Tournament hopes to the conference’s automatic bid and nothing else. Five wins in six days delivers it. A loss on Tuesday ends the season.
The Numbers on the Line at DABOS Park
The Sun Belt’s 10-team format opens with two single-elimination games on Tuesday. The No. 7 seed Louisiana faces No. 10 Marshall at 4 p.m. ET, with the Monarchs and Panthers following at 7:30. Both winners cross into an eight-team double-elimination bracket on Wednesday, where the six seeded teams that earned byes are waiting.
The bracket math is unforgiving. The higher-seeded survivor from Tuesday plays No. 2 Coastal Carolina at 1:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The lower-seeded survivor draws regular-season champion Southern Miss (40-14, 22-8 Sun Belt) at 5 p.m. The conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament rides on the championship game, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 24, per the official 2026 Sun Belt Baseball Championship bracket.
The venue itself is new in name. The former Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, was rebranded as DABOS Park ahead of Opening Day this April under a naming-rights deal with OnDeck Partners. Tournament tickets opened at $10. Ted Alexander has the radio call on Fox Sports Radio 1310 AM.
Here is how the two Tuesday-night programs line up entering first pitch:
| Category | Old Dominion | Georgia State |
|---|---|---|
| Overall record | 29-25 | 26-28 |
| Sun Belt record (seed) | 15-15 (No. 8) | 14-16 (No. 9) |
| RPI ranking | 100 | 132 |
| Team ERA | 6.17 | 6.17 |
| Opponent batting average | .294 | .250 |
| Leading hitter | Efrain Morales (.353) | John Beverley (.366) |
| Home-run leader | Maverick Stallings (11) | Wills Maginnis (8) |
| Top base stealer | TJ Aiken (15 SB) | John Beverley (35 SB) |
April’s Walk-Off Still Lingers
The Monarchs and Panthers split this season’s only series, and the way Game 3 ended is the part Coach Chris Finwood’s clubhouse has been chewing on for three weeks. ODU traveled to Atlanta on April 24-26, took the opener 10-2, then dropped Saturday’s middle game 10-4. Sunday looked done. The Monarchs carried a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Then it unraveled. Georgia State scored five runs to force extras, and Wills Maginnis ended it with a walk-off solo home run in the 10th. The series went to the home team. The bullpen line went on the season ledger.
The three Atlanta games, in order:
- Friday, April 24: ODU 10, Georgia State 2 (series opener)
- Saturday, April 25: Georgia State 10, ODU 4 (series tied)
- Sunday, April 26: Georgia State 8, ODU 7 in 10 innings (five-run ninth, walk-off)
The all-time series is just as tight as the standings suggest: 39 prior meetings, Georgia State leading 20-19. Tuesday is the first time the programs have squared off in a conference championship since the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament, hosted that year by UNC Wilmington. ODU won that meeting 7-3 on May 27 behind a complete-game six-hitter from right-hander Ben Tomchick and three hits with three runs batted in from first baseman Chris Baker. The two earlier CAA tournament meetings split: Georgia State took a 6-5 game in 2006, ODU returned a 5-2 win in 2007.
ODU’s Lineup Carries the Heavier Bats
If the Monarchs win on Tuesday, it almost certainly will be because the offense did what it has done all year. Old Dominion ranks fourth in the Sun Belt with a .284 team batting average, also fourth in the league at a .389 on-base percentage, with a .412 slugging mark. The team scores 6.5 runs per game.
The Top of the Order
Four ODU regulars are hitting better than .300. Efrain Morales sets the table at .353. Will Johnson follows at .347. Maverick Stallings checks in at .320 with team-leading power. Zach Leite hits .310 with the most run production on the roster.
The headline names and their underlying numbers:
- Efrain Morales, designated hitter, .353 batting average, on-base machine at the top of the order
- Will Johnson, All-Sun Belt Second Team, .347 average, 43 runs scored
- Maverick Stallings, .320 average, 11 home runs and 15 doubles, team’s primary power source
- Zach Leite, .310 average, 66 runs batted in (RBIs) (second in the Sun Belt, 25th nationally), Sun Belt leader with six sacrifice flies
- TJ Aiken, .233 average but third in the conference with 43 walks and a team-best 15 stolen bases on 19 attempts
- Nick Felton, .267 average, fourth nationally in sacrifice bunts per game with 13 on the season
The Manufactured-Run Wrinkle
Felton’s bunting and Aiken’s plate discipline matter more on Tuesday than they did all spring. Single-elimination baseball at a neutral park rewards the team that scratches across the early run and forces the other side to chase. The Dana Point, California native Leite drives in 1.22 runs per game, second in the league, and the lineup feeding him has worn out the front of opposing rotations all year.
Kuskie Takes the Ball With a Thin Margin
Right-hander Darin Kuskie gets the start, and the line is what it is. The junior from Damascus, Maryland is 4-7 with a 7.25 ERA, having allowed 50 runs (47 earned) on 77 hits and 22 walks across 13 starts and 14 appearances. He also leads the team with 62 strikeouts in 58.1 innings, which is the reason he keeps the ball: nobody else in the rotation misses bats at that rate. His Old Dominion roster page lists him as a 6-foot-5, 220-pound transfer from USC Upstate.
The Bullpen Bridge
Where Kuskie gives Old Dominion a chance is by handing the ball to Ben Tanton. The freshman has been the team’s most consistent arm, voted to the All-Conference Freshman Team after going 7-0 with a 1.87 ERA and one save. Kellen Davis (0-1, 4.66 ERA) leads the staff with three saves and figures to handle the ninth if there is one to handle.
The Run-Margin Problem
The team-wide numbers are less forgiving. The Monarchs carry a 6.17 ERA with opposing hitters batting .294 against them. They score 6.5 runs per game and allow 6.8. That negative run differential is exactly how a season ends in extras when a five-run lead in the ninth disappears. Tuesday’s first three innings will tell most of the story.
Georgia State’s Speed Game Sets the Counter
The Panthers (26-28, 14-16 Sun Belt, RPI 132) come in off a series win over App State at home last weekend, taking two of three with a 3-2 finale built on a comeback from a 2-0 deficit. Manager Brad Stromdahl’s lineup matches ODU’s contact rates and beats it on the bases. Georgia State has stolen 89 bags this year, fourth in the league.
The Bats That Run
Three Panthers carry averages above .300. John Beverley leads at .366. Cole Griffith hits .311. Wills Maginnis is at .302 with the team’s only first-team All-Sun Belt nod, posting eight home runs, 12 doubles, 45 runs, 41 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in the regular season. Brandon Davis has hit .333 through seven starts and 16 appearances as a part-time piece.
Beverley is the bigger headache on the bases. He ranks 16th in Division I with 35 stolen bases and 20th nationally at 0.66 steals per game. Nick Garagozzo, hitting .244, leads the Sun Belt and ranks 19th in the country with five triples. Stop the running game and the Panthers have to drive the ball over the wall to score.
Roberts on the Mound
Right-hander Cole Roberts gets the ball for Georgia State, per the team’s Sun Belt Tournament opener preview. Roberts is 1-3 with a 5.84 ERA across 13 starts, having yielded 43 runs (40 earned) on 60 hits and 22 walks while striking out 54 in 61.2 innings. The Panthers’ team ERA matches ODU’s at 6.17, but opposing hitters bat just .250 against the staff. One way Georgia State stays in counts: hit batters. The Panthers have plunked 110 hitters, the most in the conference and 11th-most in the country, which keeps free runners in scoring position even when the bats go quiet.
The Bracket Past Tuesday Gets Harder, Not Easier
Survive Georgia State and the calendar gets meaner. The winner of the higher-seeded Tuesday game draws Coastal Carolina at 1:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The Chanticleers were a top-10 team for most of April and won the league’s No. 2 seed. The lower-seeded Tuesday winner gets Southern Miss, whose 22-8 Sun Belt record was the program’s first-ever regular-season conference championship.
ODU has at least proven this spring it can beat that tier of opponent. The Monarchs took down then-No. 8 Southern Miss 10-8 on April 3, then swept a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader against then-No. 8 Coastal Carolina by scores of 6-3 and 9-2 on May 9 and May 10. That weekend marked the program’s first series win over a top-10 opponent since the Monarchs took two of three at then-No. 7 Southern Miss on May 6-8, 2022.
The home-record context is also worth keeping in mind. Old Dominion went 19-14 at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex this year and won seven of its last 10 games, including four of its last five conference series. It closed the regular season by winning two of three from James Madison in the TowneBank Royal Rivalry series, including a 10-0 run-rule win on Friday. The team peaking late is the optimistic read on a 100 RPI.
Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. ET first pitch decides whether any of that matters. The Panthers already showed in late April that a five-run ninth-inning lead is not safe against them. Old Dominion’s whole tournament starts with proving the bullpen learned something between Atlanta and Montgomery.
