Marshall University Athletics
Golden Eagles Open Series With 11-2 Win Over Herd
2/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Golden Eagles Open Series With 11-2 Win Over Herd
2/18/2005
- Box Score
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Preseason All-American pitcher Patrick Ezell held the Marshall offense one run in seven innings to help the University of Southern Mississippi to an 11-2 win Friday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park.
Ezell, also the preseason Conference USA pitcher of the year, held the Herd (0-4) to one run on seven hits. John Nicholas pitched the final two innings for USM (1-0), giving up two hits and one run.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning off of Herd pitcher Chris Cummings (Huntington, WV). After two singles opened the inning, Brad Willcutt singled to bring in the first run of the game. After a walk loaded the bases, Cummings walked in Jacob Fowler to bring in another run. Beau Griffin followed that up with a two RBI single to give USM a 4-0 lead.
A solo home run by Marc Maddox put USM up 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth.
Marshall's offense put up their first major threat of the day. With two outs, Adam Ptacek (Assaria, KS) doubled to right-center. That brought up Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.), who singled to right. On the play, Ptacek was waved around third, but was called out at home on a close call.
In the bottom of the inning, the Golden Eagles put the game away, scoring three more runs. With two outs and two batters on base, senior Mike Marchyshyn (Markham, Ont.) was brought in. The first batter he faced, Marc Maddox, doubled in his second and third runs of the day on a fly ball to center field, which was lost in the sun by the Herd defense. Willcutt also had another RBI single to bring in the third run of the inning.
The Herd got on the board in the top of the seventh. Catcher Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) led the inning off with a double to right-center. The next two batters, junior Bubba Pfaff (Florence, CO) and Roddy Stieger (Westchester, OH) both reached on errors by USM second baseman Trey Sutton. The error in which Stieger reached on brought in Russell for MU's first run of the game.
USM struck again in the bottom of the seventh as the first four batters reached base off of Marchyshyn. After a walk and two singles loaded up the bases, Chris Matesich doubled in two more runs to make it a 10-1 ball game. With no outs and runners on second and third, Bryson Meyers (Oakland, MD) was brought into the game and got three quick outs to avoid further damage.
MU's second run of the game came in the top of the eighth. Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA) led off the inning with a single and with one out, Aaron Jamieson notched his second single of the day. Next up was Russell, who walked to load the bases and bring Bubba Pfaff to the plate. Pfaff hit into a fielder's choice to score Frederick for the second run of the game for Marshall. Southern Miss capped the scoring off when Beau Griffin singled in his third run of the game in the bottom of the eighth and the Golden Eagles held on for an 11-2 win.
Cummings took the loss for Marshall, dropping to 0-1 on the season. Marchyshyn pitched 1/3 of an inning, allowing three runs while Meyers went two innings with one run being scored.
A season-high nine hits for Marshall was not enough, as it once again struggled with runners on base, leaving nine runner on for the game. The offense did show signs of improvement, though, striking out only three times in the game, compared to 33 times over the course of the series at Mercer last weekend. Jamieson led the way for the Herd, notching two hits. Seven players registered one hit a piece. Pfaff and Stieger each had one RBI on the day.
USM tallied 11 runs on 13 hits in the game. Maddox and Griffin each had three RBI's for the Golden Eagles while Willcutt and Matesich knocked in two.
On Saturday, the Herd will send junior Chris Koutsavlis (Pittsburgh, PA) to the mound in search of its first win of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m., Herdzone will provide an update following the game.
