WINCHESTER, Va. - The No. 17 Shenandoah University baseball team hopes to achieve its third consecutive ODAC championship by downing second-seeded University of Lynchburg this weekend.

The two sets of ODAC Hornets are set for a best-of-three championship series beginning Friday at noon. SU and Lynchburg will play two games Friday with the if-necessary third game scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

All three games will be played at Fox Field on the University of Lynchburg campus. Lynchburg will be the home team for games one and three and Shenandoah for game two.

Shenandoah (30-9 and the tournament's fourth-seed) advanced to its third straight championship by topping fifth-seeded Hampden-Sydney, 2-1, in the quarterfinal round before sweeping eighth-seed Eastern Mennonite, 2-0, in last week's semi-finals.

Lynchburg (32-11) swept Washington & Lee, 2-0, in the quarterfinals and bested sixth-seeded Bridgewater, 2-1, last weekend.

At stake is the league's automatic bid to the 48-team NCAA Tournament. The tournament field is slated to be announced late Sunday evening with regional play beginning on Thursday, May 27.

Lynchburg is seeking its ninth ODAC title and its first since 2012. Shenandoah, which joined the league for the 2013 season, is looking for ODAC title No. 4 and its third straight. SU would become the first program to win three straight since BC turned the trick from 1994 through 1996.

Shenandoah is the league's top-hitting team, coming with a .335 team batting average along with 51 home runs and 315 RBI.

Freshman Colby Martin, the ODAC player of the year, leads SU with an ODAC-best .490 batting average. Martin leads the league in runs, hits, triples, and stolen bases in addition to being second in RBI and third in both home runs and doubles.

Martin is one of six SU players to be named All-ODAC. Shortstop Frankie Ritter and third baseman Pearce Bucher join Martin as first team honorees.

First baseman Keegan Woolford, a second team pick, leads the league with 13 home runs and his 53 RBI matches Martin for second in the loop.

Right fielder Grant Thompson and starting pitcher Tad Dean round out the Shenandoah All-ODAC selections. Dean, 6-1 with a 2.24 and 47 strikeouts in 72 1/3 innings pitched, figures to be the game one starter.

Shenandoah skipper Kevin Anderson will choose his games two and three starters from a group that includes Reilly Owen, Calvin Pastel, and Michael Prosperi.

Owen is 7-0, Pastel 4-1 and Prosperi 2-0 this spring.

Lynchburg is fifth in the league with a .287 batting average and its 25 home runs are second-best to SU.

Avery Neaves paces LYN with a .400 batting average along with 10 home runs and a league-best 67 RBI. Graduate student Kinston Carson backs up Neaves by hitting .336 with 40 runs batted in and 16 extra base hits.

Carson is also 3-1 on the mound with a league-best 1.79 ERA in 50 1/3 innings pitched over 10 appearances.

Brandon Pond, 7-4, and Zach Potts, 6-0, are Lynchburg's top two starters. Pond has 83 strikeouts in 80 2/3 innings pitched and Potts 67 K's in 67 innings of work.

Shenandoah swept Lynchburg this season, winning 2-0 and 4-3 in an Apr. 17 doubleheader in Winchester. Dean had one of his three complete game shutouts this year in that opening game.

Lynchburg has won 14 of 26 meetings between the two programs dating back to the 1997 season. This weekend is the first-ever ODAC Tournament matchup between the two teams.

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