Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Wins Seventh Straight, Tops Liberty, 8-5
3/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Wins Seventh Straight, Tops Liberty, 8-5
3/13/2004
- Box Score
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Thundering Herd baseball team was able to overcome a late charge by the Liberty University Flames to earn an 8-5 win Saturday at Worthington Stadium. The win marks the seventh straight win for the team.
Marshall (8-7) got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning. Marshall Murray (Walnut Creek, CA) hit a one-out double. After Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA) was walked, Francois Larmore (Magnolia, NJ) hit a double to give MU a 2-0 lead. Corie O?Bryan (Frederick, MD) hit a single to bring in Larmore to give the Herd a quick 3-0 lead over the Flames (5-8).
In the top of the third, Marshall struck again. Marshall Murray was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Frederick and Larmore hit consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. Two straight hit batters, followed by two more walks, all with the bases loaded, brought in four runs to give Marshall a 7-0 lead. They added on another run when Chris Monaco (Tucson, AZ) hit into a fielder?s choice to score Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) from third.
After cruising through the first three innings, Herd starting pitcher Brian Chrisman (Pittsburgh, PA) ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Flame Ryan Hutchinson bunted to lead off the inning to reach base. He advanced to second on a throwing error by Frederick. With one out, Jeff Brown hit a single for the Flames to bring in Hutchinson and give Liberty their first run of the game. After walking the next batter, Chrisman got Carlos Garcia to hit into an inning-ending double play to minimize the damage and keep Marshall?s lead at seven.
The scoring slowed down at that point. Chrisman cruised through six innings, allowing one run on three hits. The Liberty pitchers also picked their game up, not allowing a Marshall run after the third inning. After Chrisman left the game, Coach Piepenbrink brought in freshman Troy Wilson (Saegertown, PA). Wilson sat the Flames down in order in the seventh and eighth innings, but ran into problems in the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, Liberty hit two two-run home runs to cut MU?s lead to three. With two outs, closer Chris Meadows (Huntington, WV) and needed only one pitch to get the third out of the inning.
Brian Chrisman earned the win, improving his record to 2-0. He pitched six innings, allowing one run. Meadows earned the save. Adam Frederick continued his hot hitting, going 3-4, bringing his batting average to .393. Larmore went 2-4 to bring his average up to .375.
Roddy Stieger (Westchester, OH) had two hits and Corie O?Bryan and Joe Glevenyak (West Palm Beach, FL) had one hit each.
Marshall and Liberty will face each other in the second game of this three-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Worthington Stadium. Chris Koutsavlis (Pittsburgh, PA) is the probable starting pitcher and will look to lead the Herd to its eighth straight win.
