Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Wins First MAC Contest, Tops Kent State, 4-3
4/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Wins First MAC Contest, Tops Kent State, 4-3
4/10/2004
- Box Score
KENT, Ohio - Herd second baseman Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.) hit an RBI double in the top of the ninth to bring in Brad Helm (Downington, PA) to give Marshall a 4-3 lead over Kent State. Chris Meadows (Huntington, WV) finished it off, pitching a scoreless ninth, to give the Herd its first Mid-American Conference win of the season.
Marshall fell, 11-1 on Friday, but came back with a strong outing on Saturday, holding KSU to three runs on seven hits. Marshall improves to 13-19 and 1-6 in the MAC. KSU slips to 14-17 and 4-4 in conference.
"This is a big win for our guys," Head Coach Dave Piepenbrink said. "It was a tough start to the conference season, but hopefully this win will get us going in the right direction."
Both teams had their chances to score in the first two innings as Marshall had two on with one out in the first and Kent State had two reach base on walks in the second with no outs, but neither team could capitalize on the chances until the Herd scored a run in the third.
Mike Koitsopoulos (Markham, Ont.) walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a stolen base and throwing error by the KSU catcher. With one out, Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.) laid down a perfect bunt to execute the suicide squeeze play and bring in Koitsopoulos to give Marshall the early 1-0 lead.
Herd starter Brian Chrisman (Pittsburgh, PA) had a no-hitter going through the third, but allowed the first KSU hit of the game in the fourth, an RBI single by Kurt Eichorn, to tie the game. Chrisman was replaced by senior Steve Ziroli (LaGrange, IL) in the fourth. Ziroli got Todd Balduf to strike out and end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Francois Larmore (Magnolia, NJ) hit a leadoff home run to deep right to give Marshall a 2-1 lead. It was his fourth of the season. MU had another chance in the top of the seventh. With one out, Chris Monaco (Tucson, AZ) reached base on a fielder?s choice. He stole second and third, but ran out of luck when he was tagged out by the catcher as he tried to steal home. That play ended the inning.
Former Marshall catcher Greg Hiller got his team back in the game in the bottom of the seventh. He led the inning off with a single and scored the tying run when Joe Tucker hit a double. KSU took the lead when the next better, Andrew Davis, hit a double to deep center to give Kent their first lead of the game.
Their lead did not last for long, though, as the contest was tied back up at three in the eighth. The first two batters of the inning recorded quick outs to bring up Francois Larmore. Larmore, who notched his fourth home run of the season in the sixth, hit another bomb to the exact same spot to tie things up. Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA) followed that up with his second single and second stolen base, but the inning ended on a fly ball to left field hit by Matt Megee (Georgetown, DE).
Brad Helm (Downington, PA) led off the ninth with a double down the first base line. After a bunt by Koitsopoulos popped up to the catcher, Chris Monaco grounded out to second to advance Helm to third. That brought up Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.), who hit a ball to deep over the right fielder to record an RBI double and give the Herd a 4-3 lead.
Coach Piepenbrink brought Chris Meadows in the eighth and was able to get the final two outs of the inning. In the ninth, Meadows allowed a hit to lead things off, but was able to get the next two batters out. That brought up Chad Kinyon, whose .365 average is tops on the team. Kinyon battled to a full count, but Meadows was able to get him to ground out to third to end the game.
The Marshall hitters were able to manufacture four runs on seven hits for the day. They were led by Larmore, whose two home runs proved to be the difference. Aaron Jamieson also had a strong day. His two RBI?s were also pivotal to the Herd?s win. Jamieson brought in the first run of the game on a suicide squeeze and drove in the winning run with a double in the ninth.
Starter Brian Chrisman pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits. Steve Ziroli also pitched 3 2/3 and gave up two runs on four hits. Meadows pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings.
The Herd will look to keep things going when they take on Kent State in the third and final game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Grant Harper (Grayson, KY), Marshall?s probable starter, will look to give the Herd its second straight conference win.
