WINCHESTER, Va. - No. 16 Shenandoah University officially begins the defense of its ODAC baseball title Friday afternoon by hosting Hampden-Sydney in the first two games of a best-of-three series.

The two teams, which have now met in the opening round series for three consecutive seasons, is set for a 4:30 p.m. start at Bridgeforth Field in Jim Barnett Park.**

Game two, in which fifth-seeded Hampden-Sydney (17-12) will be the home team, will start 30 minutes after the completion of game one.

If a third game is needed, that contest is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start Sunday at Bridgeforth. In this scenario, the series will take the one-day break because Hampden-Sydney is holding graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021 Saturday morning.

Please note that the university's spectator policy, announced at the start of the season, remains in effect. All fans must hold a ticket issued through the university's electronic ticketing system for entry into the ballpark and attendance is limited to home fans only.

Shenandoah (26-8) is looking for its third consecutive ODAC title and fourth overall. SU comes into the game hitting an ODAC-leading .328 as a team with six starters hitting at least .320 on the year.

Freshman second baseman Colby Martin, the current ODAC Player of the Week, headlines this sextet with a second-best-in-league .459 average. Martin, who normally hits in the No. 3 spot, has 12 doubles, six triples, seven home runs and 46 RBI in 133 at-bats.

The Hornets have also hit a league-best 42 home runs (18 better than No. 2 Lynchburg) and eight players have hit at least three on the year. Senior Keegan Woolford, the program's all-time home runs leader, leads this group with 11.

On the mound, Shenandoah skipper figures to call on a group that includes sophomores Tad Dean and Calvin Pastel, along with freshmen Jacob Faivre and Reilly Owen as starting pitchers. The quartet has a combined 16-2 record with 102 strikeouts in 150 innings pitched. Dean, who started game one of every ODAC weekend series this season, has two shutouts on the year while Pastel tossed a complete game three-hitter in a 12-1 win over No. 3 Salisbury on Apr. 19.

Hampden-Sydney comes into the opening round series with a 17-12 record and has split its last six games after recording a five-game winning streak from Apr. 10-17. Included in that six-game split was a 4-3 game one victory over Shenandoah last Saturday that prevented the Hornets from claiming the No. 1 seed in the tournament. 

The Tigers hit a fifth-best-in-league .288 on the year and have six players hitting at least .300 on the year. Ryan Clawson, who doubles as an infielder and pitcher, leads the club with a .391 average. He also paces H-SC in doubles, triples, and runs batted in.

Justin Woodall and Trenton Tiller have both thrown at least 50 innings with Woodall posting a 4-1 record and Tiller a 3-3 mark. Tiller was the winning pitcher in that 4-3 win over SU last week.

Shenandoah has a 17-5 record versus Hampden-Sydney since joining the ODAC for the 2013 season and has won five of six times the two teams have met in the ODAC Tournament. That latter total includes sweeps over the Tigers in the 2018 and 2019 opening round best-of-three series.

**First pitch was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday but impending weather has pushed back the start time. 

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