Marshall University Athletics
@HerdBaseball to Battle Demon Deacons in Beckley
5/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Game Notes
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall baseball (30-17, 19-8 Conference USA) welcomes the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (31-20, 13-14 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the non-conference season finale at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley, W.Va. on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
ON THE MOUND
LHP Joshua Shapiro (4-3, 5.47 ERA) vs. RHP John McCarren (6-2, 3.58 ERA)
Shapiro, a freshman left-hander, will make his first start since April 30 at Middle Tennessee. The Columbus, Ohio, native has made eight starts for the Herd, and has tossed 52.2 innings. Shapiro is third in strikeouts with 40. McCarren has made 24 appearances for Wake Forest, with two starts.
HAVE YOU HERD?
The 2016 Marshall baseball team has the chance to make history on Tuesday. With a win against the Demon Deacons, the Thundering Herd will become the all-time winningest team in program history. Marshall tied the record of 30 wins that was set in 2008 on Sunday with a 5-2 win at WKU. The Herd has won its last nine games, and has won 13 of its last 15 contests.
Juniors Leo Valenti (Olympia, Wash.) and Parker Danciu (Palm Beach, Fla.) received weekly Player of the Week awards from CollegeSportsMadness.com on Monday. Valenti was 8-for-12 with three home runs, three doubles, five RBIs and six runs scored. Danciu had his best outing of the season for the Herd on Saturday by going eight innings with four strikeouts and allowing one run (unearned).
Junior Corey Bird (Elkview, W.Va.) did what he does best at WKU and caused havoc on the basepaths. Bird was 5-for-5 in stolen bases this past weekend to push his season total to 29. The outfielder leads Conference USA in stolen bases, and is 11th in the nation. Bird set a career-high in steals on Friday with four.
SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Wake Forest brings a high-powered offense into the midweek game, as it scored over 12 runs in each game in the three-game series at Virginia Tech this past weekend. The Demon Deacons took the series advantage with a 12-6 win in game one, but dropped the second game, 20-13. The Deacs bounced back with a 15-5 win in the rubber game.
Junior infielder Will Craig leads the team offensively, batting a team-high .411 with 62 RBIs. Craig leads the Demon Deacons in runs (46), home runs (15), slugging percentage (.822) and on base percentage (.551). Wake Forest features four players hitting over .300.
UP NEXT
Marshall closes out its regular season with a three-game series against the Old Dominion Monarchs at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. First game is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. The series continues Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
