Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Visits Pittsburgh in Final Non-Conference Game of 2006
5/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 15, 2006
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall baseball team (22-27) hits the road Tuesday for its final non-conference game of the 2006 season, battling Pittsburgh (20-28) at 7 p.m. at Trees Field.
The contest will be a homecoming for several of the Thundering Herd players. Marshall's roster features nine players from the state of Pennsylvania, including four - Brian Chrisman, Adam Dobies, Mike Gielarowski and Chris Koutsavlis - from Pittsburgh. Adam Frederick (Franklin), Matt Helm (Downingtown), Nick Wolle (Coatesville), Sean Holliday (Moon Township) and Tom Ponietowicz (Norristown) also hail from Pennsylvania.
Marshall has not played a game in the state of Pennsylvania since a 1999 contest at Duquesne.
The Herd dropped two of three games last weekend to New York Tech in non-conference action. Marshall dominated the opener, 18-5, before falling in two pitchers' duels, 5-1 and 2-1.
Marshall's hottest hitter of late has been Adam Ptacek (Sr., Assaria, Kan.). Since his batting average dropped to .208 April 11 at Morehead State, Ptacek has hit a team-best .418 to raise his batting average to a season-best .285. He also has a team-high .535 on-base percentage during that span.
Chris Monaco (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) is quickly approaching the career stolen bases record at Marshall. With six steals last week, Monaco has 15 this season and 57 for his career. He has moved into second place on the all-time ledger, just two behind Aaron Williams, who had 59 from 1996-99. Brendan Murphy (Jr., Chattanooga) leads Conference USA in RBI with 68 and is just five shy of the single-season school record of 73, set by Jason Brooks in 2001.
Pittsburgh and Marshall have met just twice ever, with the Panthers taking both contests. Pitt was victorious, 14-4, in 1994 in the first meeting in Huntington and then won the following year, 6-5, in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers lost two of three over the weekend at home to Connecticut. Jim Negrych has a team-best .419 batting average, 11 home runs and 59 RBI. On the mound, Billy Muldowney paces the Panthers with a 4-4 record and 3.50 ERA. Pitt is coached by Joe Jordano, who is 534-327-2 in 19 years of coaching and 251-209-2 in nine years at Pittsburgh.
Marshall finishes its home and conference schedules Thursday through Saturday with a three-game series against No. 1-ranked Rice. The games will be contested at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. Tickets for all three games are on sale now for $7 and may be purchased through the Marshall Athletics Ticket office by calling 1-800-THE-HERD, logging on to www.herdzone.com or on game day at the gate.
