Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Virginia
No. 1 Virginia Holds Off Baseball, 6-3
3/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2010
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - A total of six pitchers for the Marshall University baseball team held No. 1 Virginia to just one earned run, unfortunately the Cavaliers took advantage of four miscues to defeat the Thundering Herd, 6-3 on Tuesday evening at Davenport Field.
The Herd offense managed six hits on the night, with Victor Gomez, Kirby Pellant and Rhett Stafford each clubbing a double as the team dropped to 8-10. The Cavaliers improved their record to 18-3 on the season.
UVa righty Will Roberts (3-0) pitched the first 4.0 innings holding the Herd to one earned run on four hits. MU did a solid job of putting the ball in play, only striking out four times in the game, but the Cavaliers defense turned three double plays in the first four frames to quiet the Herd offense.
Kevin Shackelford (0-1) shouldered the loss, tossing 1.2 innings giving up three unearned runs.
The Cavaliers manufactured a run in bottom half of the second frame to tally the first run of the evening. Jarrett Parker lined a double off the left-center field wall to start the inning. UVa collected back-to-back fly outs, the second from John Barr, to bring Parker around for the early 1-0 lead.
Parker just missed adding a three-run shot in the bottom the third. The centerfielder gave a pitch a ride to deep leftfield, but Stafford went over the wall to rob the homer to have the Herd stay within a run.
MU made its first mark on the scoreboard in the top of fourth. V. Gomez smoked a two-bagger in the gap in right center. While Kurt Lipton was at the plate, V. Gomez took off for third and came around to score as Lipton hit a sinking liner out of the reach of UVa first baseman John Hicks to knot up the game, 1-1.
Unfortunately for the Herd, the 1-1 score was short lived. The Cavaliers flexed its offensive muscle with two outs in the last of the fourth, stringing together three consecutive run scoring hits to own a 4-1 cushion.
The Cavaliers would later use some thunder of their own plating two more runs in the fifth.
In the seventh, MU was able to dice into the five-run Cavaliers advantage, by pushing across two two-out runs. Eric Semeniuk drew a free pass before Stafford walloped a RBI double off the 377 sign in right-center field to start the mini rally. Kenny Socorro slapped a base hit back through the box to add another run, lessening the deficit to 6-3 in favor of UVa.
Kevin Arico sent MU down 1-2-3 in the ninth to earn his seventh save and secure the victory for the Cavaliers.
The Herd hosts Ohio in the two team's 150th career meeting tomorrow at the Kennedy Center. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Marshall is 0-10 all-time vs. UVA. Lost 5-4 to Cavaliers in 2009
NOTES: LHP Kyle Blank made his first start in his 11th appearanceââ'¬Â¦OF Rhett Stafford reached base for the fifth-straight plate appearance (1H-4BB) by drawing a walk in his first at-batââ'¬Â¦RHP Ben Jurevicius made his first appearance out of the bullpenââ'¬Â¦INF Josh Valle drew a walk in the eighth inning to set the MU school record for career walks (103) surpassing Roger McIntyre (1988-91) and John Piepenbrink (1987-90).
