Marshall University Athletics
Herd Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader
5/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Herd Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader
5/8/2004
- Game One
- Game Two
AKRON, Ohio - A strong day by the Marshall hitters propelled them to a sweep of today?s doubleheader against the Akron Zips. Marshall grabbed game one by an 8-3 score before pounding Akron in game two by a 13-4 margin.
The Herd (21-25, 5-11 MAC) got off to a quick start in game one on Akron (23-19, 8-8 MAC). Chris Monaco (Tucson, AZ) led off the game with a bunt single. He stole second for his 31st stolen base of the season, two shy of Aaron William?s? record of 33. With one out, Francois Larmore (Magnolia, NJ) singled to left field. Monaco tried to score on the play, but was thrown out at home. That brought up Corie O?Bryan (Frederick, MD), who homered to right field to give the Herd a 2-0 lead. The home run was his fifth of the season, tied for second on the team.
Chris Cummings (Huntington, WV) started the game for MU. Cummings struck out the side in the first inning and through three, allowed only two base runners. That changed in the fourth when the first three batters of the inning reached base. Akron recorded two hits, including an RBI single by Craig Welch. A sacrifice fly by Jim Bonnette knotted the game at two.
Marshall grabbed the lead back in the top of the sixth. With one out, Larmore hit a double, which was followed by a walk to O?Bryan. Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases and bring up Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA). Frederick hit a double to right center to bring in two runs. After Russell was tagged out on a suicide squeeze attempt, Brad Helm (Downington, PA) got an RBI single to give Marshall a 5-2 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Akron came to within two of Marshall. With no outs and one man on, Steve Ziroli (LaGrange, IL) came into the game in relief of Chris Cummings. Ziroli allowed an RBI single in the inning, but escaped without anymore runs being scored. In the seventh, Ziroli got out of a bases loaded jam to keep the two run lead.
After the pitching held the lead, the Herd offense kept adding to it. In the top of the eighth, Larmore hit a lead off single and stole second, his 12th stolen base of the season. Rich Russell followed that up with a single to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Adam Frederick recorded a single for his third RBI of the day. With two outs, Roddy Stieger (Westchester, OH) hit a single down the left field line to score two more runs. After that, Ziroli shut down the Zips offense and helped the Herd to the 8-3 win.
Every starter recorded at least one hit. Larmore went 3-5 with three runs scored. O?Bryan and Stieger each had two hits. Cummings went five innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits. He earned the win, improving his record to 3-3. Ziroli pitched four scoreless innings, giving up only three hits. He earned his first save of the year. Marshall doubled up Akron in the hit column, notching 14 in the game to seven by the Zips.
Things started out the same way for Marshall in game two. With one out in the first, the Herd loaded up that bases on two walks and a single. Larmore was hit by a pitch to bring in one run and Adam Frederick grounded out to short to bring in the second run of the inning. Another run scored on a wild pitch as MU took a quick 3-0 lead. Akron got one of the runs back off of starter Chris Koutsavlis (Pittsburgh, PA) in the bottom of the inning.
The Herd got all of the momentum right back in the top of the second, adding on two more runs on five hits. Monaco recorded a one out single and another stolen base to move within one of Aaron William?s? single season MU record of 33. Monaco scored on a single by Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.). After Jamieson was thrown out trying to steal second, Corie O?Bryan hit a solo home run to extend MU?s lead to 5-1. It was his sixth of the season and second of the doubleheader.
Neither team scored until the top of the seventh when the Herd extended its lead. After loading the bases with no outs, a run scored on a wild pitch. With two outs, Roddy Stieger hit a single to center to bring in two more runs and make it an 8-1 Marshall lead. The Herd kept pouring it on after that. Mike Koitsopoulos (Markham, Ont.) reached on a fielder?s choice. Monaco followed that up with his second single of the game to bring up Jamieson, who hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 9-1.
The inning did not get any better for the Zips. After Jamieson?s RBI single, Corie O?Bryan was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rich Russell walked to bring in the tenth run of the game. Larmore and Frederick hit consecutive singles, each single scored one run. Marshall sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning, scoring seven runs on seven hits to take a 12-1 lead.
Akron added on a run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 12-2 game. Koutsavlis exited the game after the seventh and was replaced by Mike Marchyshyn (Markham, Ont.). The Zips notched two runs off of Marchyshyn to make it an eight run game. MU added on one more run in the ninth before freshman Adam Dobies (Pittsburgh, PA) pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning.
Koutsavlis took the win in game two, moving to 3-5 on the season. The Herd notched 15 hits to only six by Akron. Frederick had three hits in the game while five other got two hits.
The Herd will be looking for the series sweep when it faces the Zips in the third and final game of the series on Sunday at Lee Jackson Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m..
