Tuesday night, the ODU Monarchs Baseball team continued their 2025 home away from home series of games in Hampton, VA. Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium was their home field for an interstate matchup vs. Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond) on Tuesday night. And Rachel and I took the short drive (mileage wise at least) over the HRBT and into Hampton for the 6pm game. Having seen both VCU and ODU several times this season, I was excited to see them match up against each other. Let me tell you…The two teams did not disappoint!

Yesterday was kind of a weird weather day here in Hampton Roads. For most of the day, it was mostly cloudy and overcast and even rained a bit in the late afternoon. It was decent temperature wise, in the mid to upper 60s, even touching 70 at times. The wind was a constant factor all day, with gusts coming up out of nowhere at times. Honestly, the game was an “if” situation until around 330 to 400pm. Rachel and I decided to head over as we noticed bright sunshine dominating the skies around 445 or so. First game of 2025 at legendary War Memorial Stadium – psyched!!!

After grabbing our tickets and a game day program, Rachel and I looked at a mostly empty War Memorial Stadium seating wise and decided to head somewhere behind home plate. Traffic, the tunnels, and battling the 5:00 rush hour traffic caused some late delays fan wise. As the game progressed, War Memorial filled up nicely with students, family, and fans of ODU and VCU players. After the player’s announcements and national anthem, the teams were ready to take the field and get the action started. And from the first pitch, the action started and rarely stopped.

ODU started RHP Freshman Jayce Park. Park had a “David Cone” type windup and threw the ball pretty hard for a sub-6′ pitcher. Unfortunately, the VCU Rams bats were ready for just about anything Park threw, torching the RHP for 7 runs, including a grand slam by 1st Baseman Sean Swenson. That being said, Park got a bit unlucky with several errors being committed behind him to allow extra runners on base, plus he hit two batters. Luckily for Park, the ODU hitters bailed him out with an impressive hitting display of their own.

VCU countered with RHP Miles Garrett, who only lasted 1 inning in the books. After giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st, Garrett was back out to start the 2nd inning. However, ODU erupted for an awesome display of hitting and scoring, plating 5 more runs in the bottom half of the 2nd, including a grand slam by CF 6’6″ Scottie Young. Hand to God, I said to Rachel “if this kid gets ahold of one, it’s going to land in Norfolk,” and sure enough, in that at bat, Young smoked one over the right field fence so fast that he was barely out of the batter’s box when it landed. An absolute laser!!! So, to sum up the first 2 innings of ODU vs. VCU – 15 runs, two gigantic grand slams (one by each squad), base runners galore, and tons of offensive baseball action. And the night was just getting started.

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to War Memorial Stadium all-stars Perry Woods and Aiden Caldwell of the Peninsula Pilots who were working the game last night. Perry was on the call on the PA and Aiden was manning the video scoreboard. Two class acts and both are awesome at their craft. I’m looking forward to catching a bunch of Pilots games there at War Memorial Stadium this summer.

As the game progressed, the bats for both teams got quiet in the 3rd and 4th innings. ODU did manage to score in the bottom of the 4th. VCU then pushed 2 runs home in the top of the 5th to bring the score to an even 9-9. A quick check on the time and it was nearly 830pm at this point, so Rachel and I decided to call it a night after ODU’s bottom of the 5th inning at bat. I had a feeling that the final score would be much higher. More on that in a moment.

As I walked out and snapped one last photo of the game action, I couldn’t help but marvel at War Memorial Stadium. Sure there have been some construction upgrades, work done on the field, and other stadium updates over the years at WMS. But the main structure, the location, and the aura of this old time ballpark remain true to itself. War Memorial is in a special category of fields here in the United States. An old time ball park that played host to Satchell Paige and the Baby Dodgers and tons of collegiate stars who called War Memorial home for a few summer months before turning pro. It is a living and breathing piece of history and I just love it. I’m not at Cardines Field level love just yet, but it is fast approaching that level.

Back to the game and the final score. ODU and VCU plated run after run against each other for 9 innings. And in the end, it was VCU on top of ODU by a score of 16-13. The two D1 teams combined for 29 runs, 24 hits, and 5 home runs. Wow, what a game to watch. Never a dull moment in that one. It was so great being inside War Memorial Stadium again for a baseball game. I am so looking forward to the Peninsula Pilots season this summer, starting up pretty soon to be honest – First Pilots home game is May 29th!!! Overall, it was a beautiful night in Hampton, the weather cooperated, and the two VA D1 baseball teams put on quite a show on the field. It was another amazing Hampton baseball experience, featuring the home team Old Dominion University Monarchs vs. the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams playing at legendary War Memorial Stadium.