Old Dominion headlines regional at USC. Monarchs hope to one day host NCAAs at home
Riding a bus somewhere along the remote interstates of the Deep South last week, Old Dominion’s baseball team erupted in excitement.
Making the 17-hour trek from Ruston, Louisiana, where the Monarchs had just won the Conference USA Tournament title over the hosts Louisiana Tech, it was on the road in the middle of a near-cross-country sojourn that Old Dominion learned of its No. 1 seed in Friday’s NCAA tournament regional in Columbia.
“We had to sleep a lot and eat some food,” head coach Chris Finwood said through a laugh of how his squad has since recovered. “But it’s just part of doing business in college baseball at our level — you’re gonna have some longer bus trips and it’s nothing they’re not used to.”
That the Monarchs heard their fate along the road is almost poetic. Old Dominion has played games as far as Boca Raton, Florida and San Antonio, Texas this year. The jaunt to Ruston was made more palatable given the hardware they brought back to Norfolk, Virginia.
Such is life for the Monarchs, a program part of the notoriously absurd geography of Conference USA and whose baseball history is closer to a picture book than the lengthy novels written over decades of dominance by such teams as Arkansas or Texas.
But like Arkansas or Texas, the top two seeds in this year’s NCAA tournament, Old Dominion enters the weekend as the No. 1 seed in a regional, albeit one that will be played seven hours from home.
For a Monarchs team that finished the regular season 17-6 away from home, there’s something refreshing about another trip down the winding highways that landed them in the Palmetto State on Wednesday night. At this point, it’s a borderline part of their identity.
“We were running late and missed the selection show in Norfolk,” Old Dominion athletic director Dr. Wood Selig told The State. “So that’s kind of par for the course. We were missing things at home, but we’re doing just fine on the road.”
No. 1 in Columbia for NCAA tournament
NCAA tournament regional hosting opportunities are normally awarded based on the selection committee’s top-16 teams in the 64-squad bracket. Teams are then dispersed to varying corners of the country before meeting in Omaha, Nebraska for the eight-team College World Series.
Given the nonsensical and inconsistent nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, programs were asked to bid as host sites prior to the tournament so 20 finalists could be chosen from those applications. Of those, 16 would be awarded hosting privileges.
Rated among the nation’s elite via RPI for the bulk of 2021, Old Dominion made perfect sense as a potential host site bidder. The problem? It quite literally isn’t allowed to.
Under current NCAA regional hosting guidelines, the Monarchs’ home park — Bud Metheny Baseball Complex — isn’t technically eligible to host given its lack of a handful of behind-the-scenes necessities like vast media seating or an advanced television camera setup.
Most years, that wouldn’t matter. The Monarchs have been to the NCAA tournament just eight times in their Division I history that dates back to 1977. This year, though, Old Dominion’s inability to host makes for the bizarre optics of the No. 1-seeded Monarchs heading to Columbia, where the hometown Gamecocks will enjoy home field advantage throughout the regional.
“Old Dominion, they’re real,” D1Baseball national writer and co-editor Aaron Fitt told The State on Thursday. “I know you think, ‘All right it’s not a brand-name team. It’s Conference USA. How good can they really be?’ There’s a reason they’re the No. 11 national seed.”
Since completing their 17-hour bus trip from Ruston to Norfolk, the Monarchs have slowly slipped into a sense of normalcy (read: traveling long distances again).
NCAA guidelines stipulate teams must drive to regionals if they’re inside a 400-mile radius. Old Dominion’s campus sits, almost comically, 385.5 miles from Columbia.
“That just gives you an idea of the type of guys we have on our team,” Selig said. “They’re just blue collar, hard workers and just get it done.”
Old Dominion has quickly taken to its new “home” ballpark and one that boasts a coincidental history with the Monarchs. During their previous eight NCAA tournament appearances, Old Dominion was thrice sent to Columbia for regionals, turning in a 1-6 record over that span.
The oscillating weather that plagues central South Carolina during the early summer also rather annoyingly introduced itself to the newest residents at Founders Park on Thursday, forcing the Monarchs, according to Finwood, to finish practice a few minutes early as an early-afternoon shower poured down on the field.
Adjustments aside, Founders Park fits what has carried the Monarchs to this point. Old Dominion currently sits as the nation’s leader in home runs, an added bonus in a hitter-friendly stadium like that in Columbia.
Senior outfielder Kyle Battle ranks tied-for-14th nationally with 18 long balls. Andy Garriola and Carter Trice have 14 and 13 homers, respectively, while six other Monarchs have clubbed at least six.
Those combined power numbers have manifested into a trio of wins this year over Louisiana Tech — a conference mate that will host its own regional this weekend. The Monarchs also took a combined 10 games off NCAA tournament teams in East Carolina, Charlotte, VCU and Norfolk State this spring.
“They’ve got guys that can elevate the ball and let it go,” Fitt said.
Monarchs eager for wins in South Carolina, building a future
While the muggy humidity that mars summers in Columbia crept in Thursday, there’s a general air of positivity within the Old Dominion program. There’s no angst or dismay over not hosting a regional. Rather, afternoons and experiences like those coming over the next few days offer an advertisement of what can be.
Speaking with reporters ahead of the weekend, Finwood pointed to Virginia, who will face second-seeded South Carolina Friday at noon, as a case study of what he hopes to build in Norfolk..
Prior to its string of dominance during the late aughts and into the 2010s, the Cavaliers’ ballpark had grown into disarray and it became a genuine question of whether baseball in Charlottesville would remain feasible. But instead of shuttering the program, a donor — who has remained anonymous despite long-standing presumptions it was famed novelist John Grisham — cashed a check to build out what now exists as Davenport Field at Disharoon Park.
“I read most of his books actually,” Finwood quipped of Grisham while offering an oral history of sorts on Virginia’s recent rise.
Selig told The State the school hopes to capitalize on the momentum of ODU’s baseball program. Finwood, who spent five years as an assistant coach at Auburn, added the ball is in the school’s court at this point as far as facility upgrades. Wins and stability, though, he explained, help move that conversation forward.
That starts with “hosting” a regional almost 400 miles from campus.
“We’re no stranger to Columbia,” Selig said. “Maybe, in a way, Columbia is kind of our NCAA baseball home away from home.”
The State’s Michael Lananna spoke with Aaron Fitt on a Facebook Live Thursday afternoon.
NCAA baseball: What time, channel for ODU?
Who: No. 1-seed Old Dominion (42-14, 22-10 Conference USA) vs. No. 4-seed Jacksonville (16-32, 3-15 ASUN)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Founders Park
Watch: ESPN3 (streaming)
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
