Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Florida International
Baseball Drops Power Park Opener 7-4
3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- In its Appalachian Power Park season debut, Marshall baseball (7-17, 1-6 C-USA) dropped a close 7-4 game to FIU (12-14, 4-3 C-USA) Friday night in Charleston.
Freshman designated hitter Chad Roberts (Wilmington, Ohio) led the Herd offense, going 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored. Junior DJ Gee (Seattle) collected two RBI, and seniors TJ Diffenderfer (Mount Juliet, Tenn.) and Sergio Leon (Miami) also recorded doubles in the loss.
The Panthers broke the blank first, scoring a run in the top of the second. Marshall tied it up in the bottom of the fourth, after a single from Gee scored Leon, who doubled earlier in the inning.
FIU then plated two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to take the lead and add insurance. The Herd began to chip away at the gap, scoring once in the seventh and twice in the eighth.
In the seventh, Roberts led the inning off with his double, and a single to right field from senior Andrew Dundon (Lincoln Park, N.J.) moved him to third. The freshman then scored after a bunt single from junior Robert Fajardo (Miami).
The Panthers came home once more in the eighth to keep the deficit the same. In the bottom of that frame, senior Josh King (Troup, Ga.) led off with a single, and moved up to third thanks to Diffenderfer's double. A sacrifice fly from Gee brought King home, and another hit from Roberts scored Diffenderfer.
Freshman Tyler Ratliff (Alexandria, Va.) made his 2015 pitching debut, working a scoreless inning and picking up his first collegiate strikeout.
Marshall and FIU square off in the second game of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m.
