Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Travels to Kent State, Wednesday
4/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 7, 2009
KENT, Ohio - The Marshall University baseball team returns to non-conference action Wednesday, April 8 for a 3:00 p.m. ET contest at Kent State.
Marshall (13-17), dropped a 15-10 decision to Kent State (21-6) earlier in the season at The Kennedy Center. After taking a 10-5 lead, the Golden Flashes, then ranked 21st in the nation, scored 10 unanswered runs to post the five-run victory.
The Thundering Herd enters Wednesday's contest having taken one of three from Conference USA rival Southern Miss over the weekend. Marshall won Saturday's contest 7-6, highlighted by the offensive effort from sophomore Victor Gomez who blasted a homer and added a double, and the stellar pitching from junior starter Dan Straily and junior reliever Austin Coan.
Straily pitched five strikeouts over seven innings en route to a 3-0 record, while Coan pitched the final frame and earned his fourth save of the season.
The Golden Eagles took a 4-2 decision in the series opener and won the series with an 8-7 victory in Sunday's contest, using a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth after Gomez had smacked a game-tying long ball in the Marshall ninth.
Sophomore Ben Jurevicius continues to lead the Herd in batting average, hitting .319 with 36 hits and 15 RBIs. Gomez leads the squad with 41 hits, nine doubles, eight homers and 30 RBIs.
Kent State enters weekend action having won 13 of its last 15 games. Greg Rohan leads the Golden Flashes' charge with a .362 batting average. He is also the team leader in hits (38), homers (8), RBIs (33) and is slugging at a .648 clip, also a team high.
The Golden Flashes will send Ryan Mace to the mound, Wednesday. Mace is 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA in four appearances.
Marshall will start freshman southpaw Mike Mason on the hill. Mason is 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA in six appearances for the Herd so far this season. He earned his first victory of the season in Marshall's 14-3 romp of No. 18 Ohio State last Wednesday.
The Herd welcomes UAB to Charleston, W.Va. and Appalachian Power Park for a three-game C-USA showdown beginning Friday, April 10-12. Friday's contest is slated for 2:05 p.m. ET, with Saturday's start set at 12:00 p.m. The series finale will see first-pitch at 1:00 p.m.
