Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hampden-Sydney College (H-SC)is the No. 5 seed for the 2023 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Baseball Tournament. On Wednesday, it was announced that the Tigers will go on the road to play a best of three quarterfinal series against No. 4 seed Randolph-Macon College (R-MC). That’ll begin on Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. in Ashland. Game two is scheduled for Sunday, May 7, at noon and a third game, if necessary, is set for Sunday at 3 p.m.

Looking at the regular season

The Tigers completed the regular season with an overall record of 20-17, including 13-9 in the ODAC. It marks the second consecutive 20-win season for H-SC, and the 12th under the direction of 20th-year head coach Jeff Kinne (401-351-6, 206-163-1). The Garnet & Grey have been led at the plate this season by sophomores Jaxon Masterson (.346, 2 HRs, 28 RBIs, 13 SBs) and Grayson Harris (.309, 11 RBIs, 15 SBs). Seniors Owen Tappy (6-1, 1.97 ERA, 61 Ks) and Justin Woodall (3-2, 4.87 ERA, 39 Ks) have led the mound efforts in 2023.

R-MC, ranked No. 14 in this week’s D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25, has an overall record of 29-10, including 16-6 in the ODAC. The two teams split the regular season series this spring, the Tigers winning by a score of 7-3 on March 22 at home, and the Yellow Jackets winning by a score of 15-7 on April 11 in Ashland.

H-SC and R-MC last met in the ODAC Tournament in 2016 when the second-seeded Yellow Jackets took a 6-5 decision against the fourth-seeded Tigers in the conference tournament championship game on May 1 (2016) at Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg. Overall, H-SC is 3-6 versus R-MC in ODAC Tournament games since 1977. The last postseason win against the Yellow Jackets was in 2010, a 10-4 victory at City Stadium in Lynchburg.

Breaking down the tournament

Nationally-ranked No. 4 the University of Lynchburg (33-5, 19-3) is the top seed for the ODAC Baseball Tournament and will host No. 8 seed Bridgewater College (16-24, 9-13) in another best-of-three series, while No. 2 seed and nationally-ranked No. 3 Shenandoah University (34-5, 18-4) is hosting No. 7 seed Guilford (NC) College (20-17-1, 9-12-1), and No. 3 seed Roanoke College (25-15, 16-6) is hosting No. 6 seed Washington and Lee University (18-15, 11-11).