Marshall University Athletics
Piepenbrink's 100th Victory Wins Series Versus Falcons
4/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Piepenbrink's 100th Victory Wins Series Versus Falcons
4/27/2003
- Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio ? Marshall head coach Dave Piepenbrink recorded his 100th career victory in a 12-5 drubbing of Bowling Green on Sunday at Warren Steller Field. The Thundering Herd took three-of-four games in the weekend set, the first Mid-American Conference series victory since March of 2002 and the first ever for a Marshall team versus the Falcons.
With the win, Piepenbrink moved into second place in the all-time coaching victories list at Marshall, 322 behind his former coach, Jack Cook.
?It couldn?t come at a better time,? Piepenbrink said. ?We had to win this series to keep us alive in the MAC tournament hunt.?
Starting pitchers Steve Ziroli (LaGrange, Ill.) and Tom Oestrike dueled through three innings of scoreless baseball, but the Thundering Herd (17-26-1, 8-12 MAC) began an offensive assault in the top of the fourth with back-to-back solo home runs. Matt LaFleur (Chesapeake, Va.) and Craig Dziedziejko (Kitchener, Ont.) each hit their eighth home runs of the year to give MU a 2-0 edge. In the next at bat, Mike Koitsopoulos (Markham, Ont.) was hit by a pitch, commencing a feud between the two ballclubs that would nearly reach its boiling point in the fifth inning.
BGSU?s Kelly Hunt was hit by a Ziroli offering to begin the bottom of the fourth inning, prompting home plate umpire Ron Nordquist to issue a warning to both dugouts. Hunt later scored when Ziroli overthrew Dziedziejko at first base on a Kevin Longstreth grounder to the mound. Marshall committed two throwing errors in the frame to cut its lead at 2-1.
Corie O?Bryan (Frederick, Md.) hit an opposite-field, three-run home run in the fifth inning that plated Francois Larmore (Magnolia, N.J.) and Joe Glevenyak (West Palm Beach, Fla.). LaFleur would then reach on a single to left field and advance to second base on a check-swing single by Koitsopoulos. Scott Henning (Wilmington, Del.) drove in the Marshall designated hitter with a single through the right side for a 6-1 Herd lead.
Ziroli would sit the Falcons (13-19, 6-10 MAC) down in order in the bottom of the fifth inning, but not without incident. The final hitter, Josh Baughman, dribbled a ball down the first base line that Ziroli picked up to tag the BGSU left fielder. Baughman took the extra effort to knock the Herd pitcher down, which caused the dugouts to empty momentarily before the coaching staffs and umpires extinguished the situation.
Ziroli (4-1) provided another fine start for the Thundering Herd in the series, getting seven innings of work with only one earned run allowed on six hits.
Adam Frederick (Franklin, Pa.) reached base in the leadoff spot in the top of the sixth after getting hit by a pitch, and was driven in by a Larmore triple to right-center field. Larmore would score to extend MU?s lead to 8-1 on an O?Bryan RBI single up the middle.
The hot-hitting O?Bryan went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and one run scored. The Marshall third baseman leads the team with a .378 batting average and 62 hits.
Ziroli once again retired the Falcons in order in the bottom of the sixth inning, thanks in part to a stellar pick up and throw from the hole at shortstop from Koitsopoulos.
Glevenyak hit his fourth home run of the season to lead off the eighth inning, followed by Larmore?s 13th home run, a two-run shot in the ninth, to give Marshall a 12-2 advantage.
Andrew Davis (Charleston, W.Va.) relieved Ziroli in the eighth and nearly escaped without allowing a single run, but Nate Henschen hit a two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to close the Marshall lead to seven runs.
The Falcons? Oestrike (1-2) pitched 4.2 innings with nine hits and six runs allowed in a losing effort.
Marshall will return to University Heights for a Tuesday showdown with Eastern Kentucky at 3 p.m. The Colonels upended the Herd 13-10 on April 22 at Turkey Hughes Field.
