Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from West Virginia State
3/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from West Virginia State
3/6/2002
Huntington, W.Va.-The Marshall University baseball team swept a doubleheader with West Virginia State College today at University Heights. In the first game, the Thundering Herd defeated the Yellow Jackets 10-6. In the final game, Matt White?s two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh propelled the Thundering Herd to a 15-14 victory.
With the sweep, the Thundering Herd moved to 5-6 on the season. The Yellow Jackets fell to 1-4 on the season.
?They have a tremendous offense and we were pitching from behind all day,? head coach Dave Piepenbrink said. ?We were fortunate to sneak out of here with two victories. Matt has been struggling some, but he came up with a clutch hit to give us the victory in the second game.?
In the first game, Marshall fell behind early, trailing 5-3 entering the bottom of the fourth inning. However, Marshall scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. A single by David Colangelo scored Aaron Amburgey. After an intentional walk to White, Adam Fairman singled to left field, scoring Colangelo and Mike Koitsopolous to give the Thundering Herd a 6-5 lead.
After the Yellow Jackets tied the game in the top of the fifth, the Thundering Herd answered with four in the bottom of the inning to take an insurmountable lead. Colangelo singled to right field with the bases loaded allowing Amburgey and Homer Renshaw to score. Then, Fairman came through with another two-run single, when his hit to left field scored Colangelo and Koitsopoulos.
Marshall pitcher Brian Shade (1-0) came into the game in the fifth, and shut down the Yellow Jackets in the sixth and seventh to get the victory. West Virginia State pitcher Brad Maynard allowed seven runs on six hits in 1.1 innings pitched to take the loss.
In the second game, Marshall was able to come-from-behind several times and pulled out a 15-14 victory after scoring three runs in their final at-bat.
The Thundering Herd trailed early, falling behind 8-1 in the third inning. Marshall struck seven times in the bottom of the third, however, to temporarily erase the deficit.
A Gregg Hiller groundout to first started the comeback for MU, scoring Koitsopoulos. Then, White grounded out to the shortstop allowing Colangelo to score the second run of the inning. Marshall did the rest of their damage in the inning with two outs. A single by Renshaw scored Fairman, making the score 7-3. Ryan Kobbe then hit a bases-loaded single that brought home Renshaw. The big blow in the inning came when Koitsopoulos knocked a three-run double of the left-center field run scoring Kobbe, Amburgey and Bryce Woods.
West Virginia State, however, was able to build up another lead, scoring two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Marshall kept it within striking distance scoring one in the fourth and three in the fifth on a three-run home run by Adam Fairman.
After holding WVSC scoreless in the top of the inning, the Thundering Herd trailed 14-12. Koitsopolous singled to open the inning, however, the next two Thundering Herd batters were unable to get on base. With two outs, Craig Dziedziejko was able to draw a walk, setting the scene for some dramatics by White. After falling behind 1-2, White was able to work the count to 2-2 and then drove a fastball over the left field fence to give the Thundering Herd a thrilling 15-14 victory.
As in the first game, MU pitcher Brian Shade (2-0) picked up the victory in two innings of relief. WVSC pitcher Blair Goheen picked up the loss.
Marshall will now hope to extend their winning streak to four when they take on Concord College at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8, at University Heights.
