Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Set For 2008 Entergy C-USA Baseball Championship
5/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2008
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Thundering Herd (26-28-1) baseball team will begin its quest for the 2008 Entergy C-USA Baseball Championship as the No. 6 seed and will square off against third-seed, and tournament host Tulane (36-18-1), Wednesday, May 21. First-pitch is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
The eight-team, double-elimination tournament features two brackets of four teams. Second-seeded Southern Miss, and No. 7 UCF join the Herd and Green Wave on one side of the bracket. The other side of the bracket features top-seeded Rice, No. 4 seed Houston, fifth-seeded East Carolina and No. 8 seed UAB. The C-USA Tournament culminates on Sunday, May 25, with the championship game, and the winner of that contest will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
If Marshall wins its game opening game, it will play the winner of the Southern Miss, UCF contest at 8:30 p.m. ET, Thursday. If the Herd loses to Tulane, it will play an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Marshall and Tulane battled to a 1-1-1 series tie during the regular season, with the Green Wave taking game one, the Herd winning game two and the teams settling for a tie in the series finale.
The Herd enters tournament action for the first time since the 2006 season, and for the first time under head coach Jeff Waggoner. Marshall is just one win shy of tying the single-season wins mark of 27, last achieved in 2004 and could get that with a victory over Tulane.
With a conference record of 10-13-1 in 2008, Marshall doubled its league win total from a year ago en route to earning the sixth seed in the postseason tournament.
Herd right-hander Steve Blevins, finished 8-3 in the regular season and will take the hill against the Green Wave, Wednesday night. The junior picked up a complete-game victory and the program's first win against Tulane by tossing a career-best 12 strikeouts through nine innings. Blevins will square off against Tulane ace Shooter Hunt (9-2).
Marshall will look to Nate Lape (.385, 14 homers, 52 RBIs) and Victor Gomez (.370, 11 home runs, 43 RBIs) to provide continued offensive power throughout championship play. Adam Yeager will also be called upon to create havoc on the base paths, as his 38 steals put him just two shy of Marshall's single-season mark.
All of Marshall's championship games can be heard live on WRVC 930 AM with Steve Cotton. Live streaming video for every tournament contest is available on the web to paid members of the All-Access Pass, and live stats are provided for free via GameTracker by visiting www.herdzone.com or www.conferenceusa.com.
