Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Rice
Top Seeded Rice Ousts Marshall Baseball at C-USA Tournament
5/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2010
HOUSTON - The No. 4 Marshall University baseball team ran into the No. 1 Rice University juggernaut offense, as the Owls motored past the Thundering Herd 18-0 in a seven-inning 10-run rule shortened contest at the Conference USA Tournament at Cougar Field on Friday.
Marshall ends the season with a 27-31 record, tying the 1978 and 2004 squads for the second-most wins in school history. Jeff Waggoner's club also produced a 12-12 C-USA regular season record and finished fourth overall, the best marks in the programs history since league realignment.
The win propels the top-seeded Owls to a 38-20 mark and will take on No. 2 Southern Miss in the tournament championship game on Saturday night.
The Rice offense had feasted throughout the tournament at the plate and against the Thundering Herd pitching staff it was no different. After scoring 11 runs in the Owls first tournament game against ECU and posting 24 more runs a night later on Houston, Rice pounded out 19 hits, including five homers en route to the 18-run outburst.
After being held off the scoreboard in the bottom of the opening stanza, Rice scored 11 times, six of the runs knocked in by Steven Sultzbaugh, in the second as the home squad batted around and put the game out of reach for the Herd.
An inning later, Rice put up another five runs and added two more in the fifth to round out the scoring.
The Thundering Herd managed only five hits off Rice starter Jared Rogers (8-1). The right-hander logged the complete game shutout, fanning eight in the victory.
MU received singles from Victor Gomez, James Lavinskas and Isaac Ballou. Alfredo Brito provided a double and finished the season an impressive 8-for-12 off the bench in pinch-hit situations.
Mike Mason (3-7) was saddled with the loss for the Herd.
Senior Tyler Gatrell provided the one bright and exciting moment for the Herd in the top of the seventh. The four-year relief pitcher had seen game action in 32 contests in his final season and 91 in his entire career, second most in program history. However, the Boyd County, Ky., native had never received a collegiate at bat. Trailing 18-0, head coach Jeff Waggoner granted that wish and the senior delivered ripping a double into the right field corner in his final collegiate game.
The contest also ended the career for seniors Austin Coan, Ryan Kiel and Josh Valle. Coan set the single-season saves record in 2010 with 12, while collecting a total of 20 in his two-year stint at Marshall. Kiel tallied 13 wins on the bump, good for 10th all-time and pitched in 78 games, fourth-most for the Herd. The versatile Valle finished in the top-10 in nine different MU records. Most notably, Valle played the most games in school history (214), walked a school-best 120 times and finished third with 220 career hits.
