Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UTSA
@HerdBaseball Thunders Past Roadrunners Friday Night, 8-3
4/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats | Box Score (PDF) | Coach Waggoner Postgame Video
SAN ANTONIO - Marshall baseball (16-12, 6-4 C-USA) took the early advantage of its three-game series against the UTSA Roadrunners (11-18, 2-8 C-USA) with an 8-3 victory at Roadrunner Field.
Senior starting pitcher Chase Boster (Stafford, Va.) set the tone for the Herd on Friday night with a strong seven inning performance. Boster allowed only one run on five hits, and tied a career-high in strikeouts with seven. Boster improves to 2-2 with the win.
Marshall's bats came alive in the beginning of the second with four straight hits that scored two runs. Aaron Bossi (St. Louis) led things off with a double down the third-base line. Cory Garrastazu (Miami) followed with a double to center field that scored Bossi. After a Tyler Ratliff (Alexandria, Va.) single to put runners on the corners, Sam Finfer (Bellevue, Wash.) singled up the middle to score Garrastazu.
Tommy Lane (Pendleton, Ore.) gave the Thundering Herd a bigger cushion in the ensuing inning with a two-run home run to opposite field. It was the junior's ninth homer of the season.
The Roadrunners cut the Marshall lead by two after scoring a run in the fourth and eighth inning.
In the bottom of the eighth and bases loaded with no outs, Head coach Jeff Waggoner called upon Burris Warner (Auburndale, Fla.) to get a two-inning save. Warner went on to strikeout the side in the eighth to get Marshall out of trouble. Warner closed the game in the ninth with a double play. The junior picked up his eighth save of the season, and tied for first in Conference USA.
The Herd opened up the game up in the top of the ninth inning with four runs. After Ratliff and Finfer came around to score earlier in the inning, Lane knocked in his third and fourth RBI of the game with a single up the middle that scored Corey Bird (Elkview, W.Va.) and Robert Fajardo (Miami).
UTSA got a run in the bottom of the ninth, but wasn't able to muster up any more as the game ended on a double play.
Marshall had a game-high 11 hits. Lane, Finfer and Ratliff led the way with two hits each. Lane had his first career four RBI game, while recording his 10th multi-RBI game.
Aaron Burns drops to 3-3 with the loss for UTSA.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes from head coach Jeff Waggoner
On tonight's game and Chase Boster's performance...
"Anytime you can go on the road and win on Friday night is huge. It sets the tone and lets you go after the series now."
"Chase Boster was really good tonight. He was hitting both sides of the plate with his fastball. He could throw his off-speed at any count. He was the bulldog that we needed on Friday night."
UP NEXT
Marshall returns to action on Saturday at 3 p.m. against the Roadrunners. Left-handed Parker Danciu (Palm Beach, Fla.) is scheduled to start for the Herd.
