Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Morehead State
Morehead State Flies By Baseball, 16-6
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2009
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State used a six-run fifth inning and posted 16 runs to pace the Eagles to a 16-5 victory over Marshall in Wednesday afternoon's non-conference baseball game at Allen Field in Morehead, Ky.
The Thundering Herd won the resumption of the March 4th contest, 6-4, which came to a conclusion prior to the start of Wednesday's regularly scheduled game. With the split, Marshall moves to 5-7 on the season, while Morehead State also moves to 5-7 overall.
The sides resumed last Wednesday's action in the top of the 13th inning, and played three innings of scoreless baseball. In the bottom of the 16th inning, sophomore Kenny Socorro blasted a two-out two-run walk-off dinger to right field, giving the Herd a 6-4 victory. The launch was the first of the season for the Marshall infielder.
Sophomore pitcher Chad Johnson pitched the final inning of relief and earned the victory for the Herd for his first collegiate win, while Michael Bottoms suffered the loss for Morehead State and falls to 1-2 on the season. Senior infielder Brandon Casamassima has now officially recorded the first home run at The Kennedy Center, as he did so in the fifth inning of last week's suspended game.
In Wednesday's regularly scheduled game, Marshall plated a run in the top of the first inning, thanks to an RBI groundout by sophomore catcher Thor Meeks but was held scoreless until the ninth frame.
Morehead State responded with single runs in the bottom of the first and fourth innings, and a three-spot in the second frame, before exploding for six runs in the home half of the fifth stanza to post an 11-1 advantage.
The Eagles score twice more in the seventh inning and three times in the eighth to extend its cushion to 16-1, before Marshall made a late rally.
Sophomore first baseman Victor Gomez smashed a two-run double, Casamassima scored from third on a wild pitch, Meeks singled in a run, and red-shirt junior designated hitter Eddie Rush contributed a sacrifice fly to right field to highlight a five-run ninth inning rally by the Thundering Herd.
Eagles starter Jeff Arnold earned the victory after a six-inning effort to improve to 2-0 on the season, while Marshall starter Greg Williams suffered the loss in his first collegiate start
Senior second baseman Adam Yeager extended his hitting streak to 11 games, while sophomore centerfielder Ben Jurevicius pushed his hitting streak to 12 games.
Meeks and Gomez each had two RBIs in the losing effort, while Socorro led the team in hits with three.
Morehead State hit five home runs in Wednesday's contest including three from J.D. Ashbrook, and one apiece from Bottoms and Luke Bainer.
Marshall returns to action March 13-15 when it hosts Youngstown State in a three-game non-conference weekend set. All three games will be played at George T. Smailes Field at The Kennedy Center on Route 2 in Huntington. Friday's first-pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. ET with Saturday and Sunday's start times slated for 1:00 p.m.
