Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Set For Midweek Tilt At Dayton
3/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2008
DAYTON, Ohio - The Marshall University baseball team will play a midweek non-conference game against the University of Dayton, Tuesday, April 1 at 4:00 p.m.
Marshall will then travel to Morehead State, Wednesday, for a non-conference game with the Eagles. The game originally scheduled to be hosted by Marshall will now be played in Morehead, Ky. at 3:00 p.m.
Marshall enters the game with a 12-12 overall record and is fresh off its three-game sweep of Conference USA rival Memphis and is now on a four-game winning streak.
Tied 5-5 in game one, Marshall and Memphis battled into the 10th inning before the Herd plated the game-winning run with the bases loaded on a balk by Tigers' pitcher Matt Yokey, giving the Herd a 6-5 win, its 10th of the season.
Freshman right-handed reliever Arik Sikula pitched the final 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out three batters. He walked five batters, but did not surrender a run en route to his first collegiate win.
Marshall loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th when senior left fielder Jeff Rowley drew a lead-off walk. Freshman Ben Jurevicius came in to pinch run and advanced to second after a bunt single from senior designated hitter Matt Helm. Junior third baseman Brandon Casamassima moved the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt before the Tigers intentionally walked junior shortstop Adam Yeager. Yokey tallied a strikeout but then balked in the game-winning run.
Marshall broke a 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of game two when Yeager earned a free pass, advanced to second on freshman second baseman Kenny Socorro's walk. Yeager then scored on a single by sophomore first baseman Josh Valle, a rip through the right side. Memphis left-handed reliever Marcus Barnes, who entered the game in the previous inning, got out of the jam down 3-2.
Following a scoreless eighth inning, Herd freshman right-hander Ian Kadish entered the game and pitched a one-two-three ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
Sunday's series finale capped the first sweep of a C-USA foe since the Herd did away with UAB in 2006.
Marshall took an 11-0 lead into the seventh inning before Memphis scored its only run of the game, a bases loaded RBI ground out off the bat of right fielder Robby Graham.
With the conference Sunday 10-run mercy rule in effect in the seventh inning, freshman right-handed reliever Chad Johnson, who replaced sophomore right-handed starter Dan Straily to start the inning, hurled a strikeout and forced a game-ending fly out to seal the victory.
The last time Marshall earned a mercy rule victory was in the 2007 series finale at Memphis. Herd pitcher Jeremy Slone tossed a complete-game seven-inning shutout to complete the 11-0 victory.
Straily (3-2) allowed just one hit, a single in the first, before pitching five straight hitless innings. The right-hander struck out three Tigers and surrendered just two walks in his sixth outing of the year.
Herd freshman right-hander Justin Moore (0-1) will take the hill Tuesday. The first-year hurler has struck out six batters in 12 innings on the mound so far this season which includes three starts and five appearances.
Dayton enters Tuesday's contest with a 14-9 overall record and is led by junior outfielder Max Navalinski who has a team-best .328 batting average and a .517 slugging percentage. Navalinski also has five doubles and 15 RBIs and is 5-for-6 in stolen base attempts.
Flyers red shirt senior outfielder Kevin Miller is second on the team with a .317 batting average. He has added three doubles and 14 RBIs and has drawn a team-leading 14 free passes to give him a .436 on-base percentage.
On the mound Tuesday for Dayton will be sophomore right-hander Matt Speckman. The second-year pitcher is 1-0 in his only appearance of the season. Speckman gave up no runs on two hits and struck out two in 3.1 innings of work in his only start of the season.
Game Tracker will be provided by visiting the following website. http://daytonflyers.cstv.com/index-main.html
A live audio feed can also be heard by clicking here. http://flyer-radio.udayton.edu/home.htm
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