Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Set for Crucial C-USA Showdown at Memphis
4/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University baseball team will play three games against the Memphis Tigers at FedEx Park with the series opening up on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Thundering Herd enters the series at 15-23 and 2-10 in league play, while the Tigers are 24-17, 7-5 C-USA.
SERIES SCHEDULE & PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1: Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET
MU: RHP Shane Farrell (2-1, 3.54 ERA)
UM: RHP Dan Langfield (2-2, 4.52 ERA)
Matchup: Farrell lasted only four innings last week, giving up all four of his runs in the first. He settled down the rest of his outing keeping Southern Miss to two hits over his next three frames. Langfield pitched solid out of the bullpen in the tournament meeting with the Herd last year, striking out five in four innings and is currently tied for third in the league in punch outs with 64.
Game 2: Saturday, 3 p.m. ET
MU: LHP Mike Mason (1-3, 4.82 ERA)
UM: LHP Ryan Holland (4-2, 4.07 ERA)
Matchup: Holland was roughed up in both of his starts against the Herd in 2010, going 0-1 with an 18.56 ERA. The lefty gave up 12 runs, 11 earned, off 14 hits in 5.1 innings. Mason had a tough outing at Southern Miss a week ago, logging just the first two innings. On the season, the MU lefty has only allowed more than three earned runs one time in 10 total appearances, nine starts.
Game 3: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET
MU: RHP Arik Sikula (2-4, 3.83 ERA)
UM: RHP Clayton Gant (4-1, 3.42 ERA)
Matchup: Sikula tops the Herd with 50 strikeouts in 54 innings and needs to be the Sunday stopper for the Herd to climb back into the league standings. Gant is 4-1 with a sub-four ERA despite walking 20 and striking out 17 in 55.1 innings of work.
MU Hitter to Watch: Steven Ross, OF
Ross produced at the plate last week, hitting.429 (6-for-14) with two doubles, a triple and three RBI. The junior tallied 10 total bases for a .714 slugging percentage and reached base at a .556 clip, walking once and getting plunked on three occasions.
UM Hitter to Watch: Chad Zurcher, SS
Zurcher leads C-USA in hitting with a .462 batting average has knocked in 27 runs, scored 39 times and stole 11 bases.
2010 Rewind: The Thundering Herd and Tigers met four times last season, the first three coming in Charleston at Power Park. Memphis took two-of-three from the Herd as the two teams combined for 63 runs off 87 hits, including 10 homers. The two teams finished with identical 12-12 conference records, with Memphis holding the tiebreaker in the final standings, as the teams sat at the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the C-USA Championships. In a cross-over game in the six-team pod-play 2010 tournament, Marshall defeated Memphis 11-7.
Game 1: Marshall 11, Memphis 7
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Marshall scored three times and added an insurance run in the eighth to capture game one. Then Friday night starter, now closer, Ian Kadish fired the first six innings, giving up only two earned runs off three hits with a career-high eight strikeouts.
Game 2: Memphis 10, Marshall 8
Despite collecting 13 hits, including multi-hit games from Nathan Gomez, James Lavinskas and Kenny Socorro a five-run fifth and two-run sixth proved to be the difference in the first game of a doubleheader. N.Gomez finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish with a double in the loss.
Game 3: Memphis 21, Marshall 13
In one of the wildest game's in 2010, Marshall scored five runs in the bottom of the first, but the Tigers posted 15 runs over the final three innings to take the twinbill night cap and the series. Six different Herd players posted two-or-more hits, led by three-hit efforts from James Lavinskas and Victor Gomez. Nathan Gomez rocketed two hits and knocked in three, while Thor Meeks went deep for a three-run bomb in the loss. Memphis' 2010 graduate Tyler Huelsing went an eye popping 6-for-6 with three homers, four runs scored and eight RBI in the victory.
C-USA Tournament: Marshall 10, Memphis 7
Marshall bounced out to an early 5-0 lead in the first and held on to defeat the Tigers in the cross-over game in the conference tournament. Rhett Stafford went 3-for-6 with three runs scored, while Victor Gomez and Thor Meeks each clubbed homers and drove in three runs.
All-Time Series: Marshall leads 9-7
Multimedia: All-Access video streaming, GameTracker and live chat will be available by logging onto HerdZone.com
