Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Baseball Welcomes Youngstown State
3/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2007
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall baseball team continues its homestand with two games against Youngstown State this week. The Thundering Herd and Penguins will play 1 p.m. games Tuesday and Wednesday at University Heights Field. Marshall (9-3) has won seven of its last eight games and is unbeaten in seven home contests this season. With its 9-3 start, Marshall is off to its best start to a season since 1988, when the Herd also started 9-3.
Both games will be broadcast by WMUL 88.1-FM and will be streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Marshall swept Campbell in a three-game series at University Heights over the weekend. Brandon Casamassima (So., Colleywood, Texas) led the Marshall offense with a 7-for-10 weekend with two home runs, while Brendan Murphy (Sr., Chattanooga, Tenn.) broke out of his hitting slump with a 4-for-10 weekend with two doubles, a home run and four runs batted in. Nick Damas (Jr., Willow Springs, Ill.) also went 4-for-10 and added four RBI.
The Marshall pitching staff continued its strong play over the weekend. The Herd has surrendered just four home runs this season and has not allowed a homer since Feb. 17 at Charleston Southern, a span of 10 games.
Nick Wolle (Sr., Coatesville, Pa.) is 5-for-5 in save opportunities this season and already is bearing down on the Marshall single-season saves record. Chris Meadows holds the single-season record of six, set in 2003.
Marshall also is 6-0 this season in one-run games, including wins in both games of the Friday doubleheader vs. Campbell. This is a stark contrast from last year, when Marshall went 3-9 in one-run decisions.
Youngstown State has struggled out of the gate with an 0-8 start. The Penguins were swept in three-game series at Stephen F. Austin and Missouri and also dropped two games at Southern Illinois.
Eric Marzec leads the team with a .421 batting average, but the Penguins are hitting just .224 as a team thus far. YSU has a 10.22 team earned run average
The Penguins are coached by Mike Florak, who is in his ninth season at YSU and 11th overall as a head coach. The Ohio University graduate has a 190-247-1 mark at YSU. Former Marshall head coach Craig Antush returns to Huntington as an assistant coach with Youngstown State. He went 23-88-1 while coaching from 1996-98 at Marshall and also served as Marshall's pitching coach from 1991-95.
Marshall returns to University Heights this weekend, taking on Canisius in a three-game series beginning at 1 p.m. Friday.
