Old Dominion's first baseball team was fielded in 1931 as the William and Mary College – Norfolk Division Braves.

The Monarchs are coached by Chris Finwood, a native of Hampton, Virginia, who is in his eleventh year at the helm.

The Monarchs have had eleven players reach the Major Leagues and two, Justin Verlander and Daniel Hudson, have played in the World Series.

The then named Braves played their first season of baseball in 1931 under head coach Tommy Scott.

In 1962 the school became Old Dominion College before attaining university status in 1969 when they changed the name to the Monarchs.

Their first post season appearance and title came in 1963 in the Mason Dixon conference playoffs where they defeated Loyola two games to one.

During the 1969–1970 season the Monarchs were coached by Jim Bradly and went on to a 12-14 record, after which Metheny returned to the team for the next 10 years.

Metheny left coaching the Monarchs in 1980 after winning his last title, the Virginia Intercollegiate State Championship over UVA.

Mark Newman took over after Metheny in 1981 when the team left the Mason Dixon Conference for the ECAC South, which would later become the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985.

In Newman's second season the Monarchs earned a bid to the 1982 NCAA tournament where they won their first game against the ECAC South champion ECU Pirates.

The 1985 Monarchs earned a berth in the 1985 NCAA tournament and during the season achieved their highest ranking in school history, appearing at 7th in the polls.

Newman coached the Monarchs from 1981–1989 when he left to become New York Yankees coordinator of minor league instruction.

Tony Guzzo was hired from VCU in 1995 after McMahon left ODU and led the Monarchs to back-to-back CAA titles and NCAA tournaments in his first two seasons at the helm.

[3] In 2000 Guzzo again led his team to the post season earning an at-large bid to the 2000 NCAA tournament.

Finwood came to ODU from Western Kentucky where he led the Hilltoppers to two conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances.

Finwood led the Monarchs from the CAA to Conference USA in 2014 and made them instantly competitive in their new league.

The 2013 team was ineligible for the CAA tournament because of this planned move and went on to win 30 games and finished in 3rd place in the conference.

In just three years Finwood led the Monarchs from last place in the CAA to back-to-back 30-win seasons, and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a three seed in the Columbia, South Carolina Regional.

UVA and ODU have scheduled home-and-home series at Davenport Field in Charlottesville and Harbor Park in Norfolk.