Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Plays Host to Eastern Kentucky Wednesday
4/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 25, 2006
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall baseball team (17-19, 5-10 Conference USA) returns to University Heights Field for the first time in nearly a month as it plays host to Eastern Kentucky (19-17, 8-6 Ohio Valley) at 3 p.m. Wednesday. WMUL 88.1 FM will broadcast the game and also will stream the game online at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Marshall has not played at University Heights since March 29 against James Madison. In the meantime, the Thundering Herd has played six home games at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va., and nine road contests.
Marshall comes home after losing two of three games last weekend at East Carolina, although the Thundering Herd was just a couple of batters away from sweeping the series. The Herd fell, 10-9, in each of the first two games, with ECU coming from behind in both contests to notch walkoff wins. In the finale, Chris Koutsavlis (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) fired a complete game and retired the final 14 batters to lead Marshall to a 5-3 victory. Brendan Murphy (Jr., Chattanooga, Tenn.) had a three-run homer and drove in four runs to pace the offense.
In the opener, ECU rallied from eight runs down, scoring twice in the ninth to earn the win. It was de ja vu the following night, as the Pirates came back with three runs in the ninth for the win. In all, Marshall held the lead or was tied for all but one-half inning of the series.
In the latest NCAA statistical rankings, Rich Russell's (Sr., Toronto, Ontario) HBP total of 0.5 HBP per AB ranks second nationally, just one hundredth of a point behind Akron's Brian Kimutis at 0.51. Brent Mason (Sr., Sherwood, Ark.) is seventh nationally in the toughest to strikeout category at 23 AB per strikeout and 19th in doubles per game (.42). Murphy is ranked 22nd in RBI per game (1.25) and 45th in doubles per game (.39). Frederick is 49th in runs per game (1.14).
As a team, Marshall is ninth in doubles per game (2.42), 22nd in slugging percentage (.485), 27th in scoring (7.7/game) and 31st in home runs per game (1.06).
The Colonels are led by Charlie Yarbrough, who paces the Colonels with a .396 batting average, 15 home runs and 50 RBI. EKU hits .309 as a team. On the mound, EKU has a team ERA of 4.98 and is led by reliever David Owens, who has a 2-1 record and 2.33 ERA. EKU is coached by Elvis Dominguez, who is 118-134 in his five years with the Colonels.
Eastern Kentucky leads the all-time series with Marshall, 29-20. The teams each won on their home fields last year, with EKU pulling out an 11-10 win in Richmond, Ky., and Marshall returning the favor, 5-4, at University Heights. This is the first of two meetings between the teams, as Marshall will travel to EKU May 3.
Marshall plays Southern Miss at 7 p.m. Friday in Conference USA play in Charleston, W.Va. Tickets for all Conference USA games at Appalachian Power Park are on sale now by calling 1-800-THE-HERD or logging on to www.herdzone.com.
