Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UCF
Herd Baseball Wins Season Finale, 6-3, at UCF
5/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2007
Marshall at UCF Game Book
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ORLANDO, Fla. - The Marshall baseball team won its season finale with a 6-3 victory over UCF at Jay Bergman Field on Saturday in the final weekend of Conference USA play.
Center fielder Nick Damas (Willow Springs, Ill.) drove in a game-high two runs thanks a two-run single in the third inning. The Thundering Herd (21-32, 5-18) used six pitchers in the finale, holding the Golden Knights (26-30, 7-17) to only seven hits in the contest.
Four Marshall seniors, playing in their final collegiate game, posted the Herd's multiple-hit games. First baseman Brit Vincent (Bowling Green, Ky.), designated hitter Brendan Murphy (Chattanooga, Tenn.), catcher Thad Ledford (Yukon, Okla.) and left fielder Chris Peak (Barboursville, W.Va.) recorded two hits apiece.
For the first time in the series Marshall scored first with a run in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead. Ledford drove in right fielder Nate Lape (Huntington, N.Y.) with a single for the early MU lead.
UCF answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first off Herd starter Adam Dobies (Pittsburgh, Pa.). One of the runs was unearned as Peak dropped a Kiko Vazquez sacrifice fly in the frame.
The Herd jumped ahead 4-2 in the top of the third, highlighted by Damas' two-run single with the bases loaded.
Herd freshman Tyler Gatrell (Ashland, Ky.) relieved Dobies in the fourth. A wild pitch with two runners aboard plus a throwing error on the play gave the Knights back a run as they trailed 4-3.
The Herd pitching carousel continued in its season finale, with Alan Gentry (Hot Springs, Ark.) taking the mound in the fifth. He gave up a single and a walk, but did not allow a run. A Peak leadoff double in the top of the sixth yielded Marshall's fifth run thanks to an RBI groundout by Vincent.
Peak posted another hit in the seventh inning, an RBI triple down the right field line that plated Blake Sanders (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) for a 6-3 Herd lead.
Andrew Hancock (Ashland, Ky.) and Ryan Kiel (Los Gatos, Calif.) each pitched an inning of scoreless baseball following Gentry. Sophomore Tom Ponietowicz (Norristown, Pa.) pitched the final two innings, allowing only one hit, to pick up his first career save.
UCF third baseman Chris Duffy, who had a terrific series versus Marshall, went 2-for-5 with an RBI on Saturday.
Marshall's season ends with a win for the first time since 2004.
