Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Set For Two Midweek Battles
3/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2009
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Following a 2-1 showing in its Conference USA opening baseball series at Memphis, the Thundering Herd is set to host Xavier, Tuesday, March 24. First-pitch is slated for 3:00 p.m. ET at George T. Smailes Field at The Kennedy Center. Admission is free.
Marshall (10-10, 2-1) welcomes Xavier (10-6, 3-0) to The Kennedy Center before traveling to Richmond, Ky. to take on Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday. Start time of that showdown is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET.
The Herd earned a 6-4 victory in Friday night's contest thanks to a superb effort from junior starter Dan Straily who went seven innings, striking out seven, while scattering just four hits before junior reliever Austin Coan pitched the ninth inning to pick up his third save of the season.
Senior centerfielder Nate Lape and freshman designated hitter Thor Meeks provided the offensive punch as the two each hit their fifth home runs of the season.
In Saturday's game, senior left fielder Brandon Casamassima poked an RBI groundout in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 6-6, but his heroics were all for not when Memphis blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to take a 7-6 victory over the Herd.
Sunday saw Marshall fall behind by seven runs in the third inning before the Herd rallied again, sparked by a three-run homer from Lape, and brilliant relief pitching by senior lefty Andrew Blain and Coan. With runners on first and second in the top of the ninth and trailing 7-6, Casamassima again found himself at the plate. A two-run bloop double into right field plated both runs, giving Marshall an 8-7 edge. Coan picked up his first at-bat for the Green and White in the inning, a fly out to left field that ended the frame before he took the hill and delivered two strikeouts to earn his second win and move to 2-1 on the season.
Senior second baseman Adam Yeager stole the 61st base of his Marshall career on Sunday to become the program's all-time stolen bags leader.
Sophomore right fielder Ben Jurevicius continues to lead the team in both batting average (.357) and hits (25), while Lape leads the team with 19 RBIs and six long balls.
On the hill, Straily has a 1.88 ERA in four appearances, to go along with 21 strikeouts and a 2-0 record. Coan has notched three saves and is 2-1 on the year.
Xavier enters Tuesday's contest fresh off a three-game sweep of Saint Louis and now stands at 10-6 overall, 3-0 in the Atlantic-10 conference.
Bobby Freking leads the Muskateers' offense with a .333 batting average (20-for-60) over the first 16 games and has a triple and a home run to his credit. His 20 hits leads the team while Adam Pasono's 12 RBIs and two homers are tops on the squad.
Following the midweek action, Marshall will host East Carolina at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. The three-game C-USA home opening series for the Herd begins Friday, March 27-29. Friday and Saturday will see a 6:00 p.m. ET start time, with Sunday's series finale slated for 1:00 p.m.
