Marshall University Athletics
Herd Heads West for Houston on Friday
4/19/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 19, 2012
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- After a three week long homestand, the Thundering Herd baseball team will hit the road bound for Houston, Texas this weekend for a three-game bid against the Houston Cougars.
Friday's game will begin at 8:30 p.m., Saturday's game will begin at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday's finale is slated for 12 p.m. All times on HerdZone.com are eastern.
Each contest can be followed online via live stream on the CBS All-Access page. Fans without a subscription to the All-Access package can follow the action through chat or CBS Gametracker.
Game One:
Aaron Blair vs. Jordan Mannisto
Game Two:
Mike Mason vs. Austin Pruitt
Game Three:
Lance Elder vs. TBA
Marshall (13-23, 1-8 C-USA) enters the series half a game behind Houston in Conference USA standings. The Cougars (12-22-1, 1-7-1 C-USA) threw a wrinkle into the league standings when they tied East Carolina two weekends ago. After a 4-4 stalemate where the two teams went scoreless from the seventh to the 12th inning, the game needed the league's curfew to halt play.
Prior to the ECU series - which the Cougars lost 0-2-1 - Houston lost a pair of C-USA series as it fell to Southern Miss 2-1 and was swept by No. 17 UCF.
Houston is 1-10 against ranked opponents this season with the one victory coming over No. 4 Arkansas during the first week of March. That 4-1 win moved the Cougars to 6-4 on the season but unfortunately capped off a hot start as they have gone 6-18-1 since defeating the Razorbacks.
Most recently, Houston dropped a 5-4 decision to No. 24 Sam Houston State on the same afternoon that Marshall fell at home to Morehead State 7-2.
Marshall enters the series coming off four straight losses. Before its mid-week loss to MSU, the Herd was dealt a series sweep by No. 9 Rice.
Sergio Leon remains the Herd's hitting leader with a .326 average in 24 starts. He and fellow freshmen Andrew Dundon and Eric Escobedo have emerged lately as genuine threats in a lineup in need of offensive production. Over the last 12 games, the trio has combined for 40 hits in 108 at-bats (.370). Dundon is 13-of-33 (.394) during that stretch while Leon is 18-of-46 (.391) and Escobedo is 9-of-29 (.310).
In the series with Houston, the Herd will face one of C-USA's top hurlers as Cougar right-hander Austin Pruitt (2-2) ranks 10th in the league in earned run average. In 54.2 innings pitched, the junior has allowed only 18 earned runs (2.96).
Not to be outmatched, Marshall will send two of the league's strikeout leaders in Aaron Blair and Mike Mason this weekend. Blair has struck out 56 hitters while Mason has fanned 45; the two rank 5th and 8th respectively.
