Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Snaps Losing Skid, Defeats Rio Grande 18-5
4/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Snaps Losing Skid, Defeats Rio Grande 18-5
4/10/2002
Huntington, W.Va.?Led by Clay DeSantis? three home runs, the Marshall University baseball team snapped a three game losing skid by defeating the University of Rio Grande 18-5. The Thundering Herd improved to 11-15 on the year while the Redmen drop to 17-17.
?Offensively we were a lot better today because everybody contributed,? head coach Dave Piepenbrink said. ?Rio Grande is a much improved club from last year and hopefully we can carry this type of offensive output into our next few games.?
Rio Grande jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. However, the Thundering Herd answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning to grab control of the game. With runners on second and third, Craig Dziedziejko singled to right center to bring home David Colangelo and Matt White.
DeSantis followed with his first home run of the day, an opposite field shot that allowed Dziedziejko to score. Stuart Shepherd finished the scoring for the Thundering Herd in the inning when his single scored Homer Renshaw.
With the score 5-1 in the third, DeSantis hit his second home run on the day when he took a fastball from Redmen pitcher Jimmy Hall over the left field wall. MU scored two more times in the fourth to take a commanding 8-1 lead.
Rio Grande mounted a rally in the fifth, scoring three runs to cut the lead to 8-5; however, Marshall answered with five in the bottom of the sixth to take a 13-4 lead.
With the bases loaded, DeSantis walked allowing Colangelo to score. Ryan Kobbe followed DeSantis with a double to left field to score Dziedziejko and White. Renshaw?s single scored DeSantis and Aaron Amburgey capped off the inning for the Thundering Herd when his double scored Kobbe.
Marshall added five more runs in the seventh to go ahead 18-4. The highlight of the inning was DeSantis third home run of the day, a two run blast over the left-center field wall.
DeSantis had a chance to make it four home runs on the day; however, he grounded out to the shortstop in his final at-bat. On the day, DeSantis was three for four, with three home runs, six RBI?s and four runs scored.
The Redmen were only able to score once more the rest of the way and MU went on to win 18-5.
Freshman Aaron Smith (1-2) picked up his first career victory, allowing five hits and a run over four innings pitched.
Hall (0-2) took the loss for the Redmen.
Marshall moves back into conference play on Saturday, April 13, when they will host the University of Akron at 1:00 p.m.
