Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Mercer For Opener
2/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Travels To Mercer For Opener
2/10/2005
MACON, Ga. - The Marshall University baseball team will travel to Macon, Georgia to kick off the 2005 season with a three-game set against the Bears of Mercer University starting on Saturday.
The Herd's final season in the Mid-American Conference gets under way at 12 p.m. when the teams will square off in a doubleheader. They return to action on Sunday for the third and final game of the series at 1 p.m..
This weekend marks the season opener for the Herd. The team is looking to build off of the momentum from the end of last season. After starting the season 0-5, the team went 27-22 the rest of the way, including 8-2 over the final ten games to tie the all-time school win record of 27.
Marshall is led by reigning team MVP Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA). Frederick batted .374 in 2004, good for tenth in the Mid-American Conference. He is one of 11 returning position players from last year. Catcher Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) also had a stellar 2004 season, batting .331, .115 points over his average from 2003.
On the mound, the Herd brings back two from 2004. Juniors Chris Cummings (Huntington, WV) and Chris Koutsavlis (Pittsburgh, PA) will anchor the starting rotation for MU. Two pitchers who had strong freshmen seasons for the Herd, Brian Chrisman (Pittsburgh, PA) and Adam Dobies (Pittsburgh, PA), are out for the 2004 season with injuries.
This will be the second weekend of play for Mercer. Last week, the Bears swept Florida A&M in a three-game set to start the season 3-0.
The series will mark the second time in the last three years that Marshall has opened up at Mercer. In 2003, the Bears took the first game before the Herd came back to take the final two games of the series.
Marshall comes into the season riding a four-game win streak, dating back to last season when they won the final game in a series at Ball State before sweeping Buffalo in the season-ending series. They will look to keep that streak going while trying to end another one. MU has lost 14 straight season openers, dating back to 1990 when they topped West Virginia Wesleyan, 16-8, to open up that season.
Log on to www.Herdzone.com for updates throughout the weekend.
