Marshall University Athletics
Late Rally Gives Eagles 10-9 Win Over Herd
5/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Late Rally Gives Eagles 10-9 Win Over Herd
5/11/2005
- Box Score
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State overcame an early 9-0 deficit to top the Thundering Herd baseball team, 10-9, Wednesday night.
The Eagles (27-21) scored eight runs in the sixth inning and one run in both the eighth and ninth innings to take the win. Marshall (15-29) followed up a three-run first inning with six more runs in the second, but the Morehead pitching staff was able to keep the Herd off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
Offense was the story early and often for the Herd, as it put up nine early runs. In the first inning, Joe Glevenyak (West Palm Beach, FL) hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot, to start the scoring. The homer brought in Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA) and Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ont.). Frederick singled and Jamieson walked to reach base.
Six more runs would score for the Herd in the second. With one out, MU loaded up the bases on a Brad Helm (Downingtown, PA) single, followed by a Nick Wolle (Coatesville, PA) walk and a single by Adam Ptacek (Assaria, KS). Helm scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch while Nick Wolle would score on Adam Frederick's second single of the day. After Jamieson struck out for the second out of the inning, Joe Glevenyak was issued the second walk of the inning to load up the bases for freshman Tommy Johnson (Gaithersburg, MD). Johnson would deliver in a big way with his second home run of the year, a grand slam, to put the Herd up 9-0. Both of Johnson's home runs this season have been grand slams.
After recording six hits in the first two innings, the Herd notched only two more over the final seven innings as Morehead would hold the MU hitters in check. While the pitchers of MSU were doing their job, the Eagle hitters got rolling in the sixth inning, scoring eight times to cut the deficit to one run.
Herd starter Mike Marchyshyn (Markham, Ont.) went five scoreless innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth. After the first three Eagle batters reached base in the inning, Marchyshyn gave up a grand slam to left fielder Travis Rima. Following the grand slam, Chris Koutsavlis (Pittsburgh, PA) entered the game in relief of Marchyshyn, but could not contain MSU. Koutsavlis walked the first batter he faced, Lance Seasor. He was able to record a quick out, getting designated hitter Patrick Lager to fly out to second, but the next batter, first baseman Bryan Ingram hit the second home run of the inning for Morehead State to make it a 9-6 game.
Two more runs would score for the Eagles in the inning as they would cut the lead to 9-8.
In the eighth, MSU, behind an RBI single by Kevin Bryant, would tie the game off of pitcher Brian Knippelmeyer (Lincoln, NE). With two on and one out in the inning, Brendon Bump (Lawrence, KS) entered the game and was quickly able to get out of the inning, but in the ninth, was not as lucky. Two singles and a hit batter loaded up the bases with no outs, for Donald Cheney, who made the comeback complete with the game-winning RBI single.
Bump was given the loss for Marshall, dropping his record for the season to 3-4. Taking the win for the Eagles was Reid Kittleson, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning. His record improves to 4-2.
Joe Glevenyak and Tommy Johnson had the top outings for the Herd, with each registering a home run. Johnson had four runs batted in with his grand slam, while Glevenyak started the game off with a three-run shot. Morehead's offensive leader was Travis Rima, who got the Eagles on the board with his sixth inning grand slam.
Morehead State topped the Herd in Huntington by a 14-6 score earlier in the season. This marks the first time since the 1999 season that the Eagles have swept the season series. The wins in 1999 completed an 11-game winning streak that MSU held over Marshall. The streak dated back to the 1994 season.
The Herd has only six games left in the 2005 season, starting with a three-game set against MAC rival Ball State. The Cardinals will travel to University Heights starting on Friday at 3 p.m. followed by 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday. Next weekend, Marshall will travel to Buffalo for the final series of the season and its final three games in the MAC.
