Marshall University Athletics
@HerdBaseball Earns Hard Fought Win over Niagara, 5-4
3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score (PDF)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall baseball team evened up its three-game series with the Niagara Purple Eagles on Friday at the Kennedy Center Field by winning, 5-4.
The Thundering Herd (7-6) started off the scoring with some small ball in the bottom of the first. Will Ray led off the inning with a single, and later advanced to second on a groundout. Ray made it to third on a wild pitch during Tyler Ratliff's at-bat. Ray came around to score from third on a Ratliff groundout to the shortstop.
Niagara (7-6) answered back with a run of its own in the top of the second. The Purple Eagles third basemen Philippe Langlois walked and Owen Dziados subsequently singled. They both advanced to second and third, respectively, on a Shapiro wild pitch. Julian Gallup then drove in Langlois on a hard-hit grounder to the shortstop.
Marshall continued to play small ball and added two more runs and retook the lead in the third inning. Billy Sager singled up the middle. He stole second during the next at-bat, and then advanced to third on a Leo Valenti sacrifice bunt. Ray drove in Sager with an infield single. Later in the inning, Ray scored off a Ratliff single up the middle.
Niagara answered right back in the ensuing inning and took the lead by scoring three runs in the fourth. The Purple Eagles scored off a double to right field, an error on the Herd and a wild pitch.
Marshall tied it at four in the bottom of the fourth inning. Reynaldo Pastrana hit an opposite field home run over the right field wall. It was his third homer of the season.
The game went scoreless for the next two innings until Marshall tacked on what would be the game winning run in the seventh. Matt Harrison picked up his first collegiate hit with a pinch-hit double off the left field wall. Andrew Zban came into pinch-run for Harrison at second. Valenti scored Zban with a single through the left side.
Relief pitcher Matt Reed earned his second win of the season. The Purcellville, Va., native displayed a stellar relief performance as he went three scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out five. Reed struck out the side in the ninth to earn the win. Marshall's starting Joshua Shapiro went six strong innings with five strikeouts.
Ray was the lone Herd player with a multi-hit game. Ray was 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. Ratliff had a team-high 2 RBIs and was 1-for-3.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes by head coach Jeff Waggoner
On Niagaraââ'¬Â¦
I told our guys coming into this series that this going to be a hard fought battle. Niagara is pretty good. They've got a bunch of older guys and they've played some really good teams this year. They had close games against Baylor and beat No. 12 Virginia. So, we knew coming in that they would be good and we'd have to really grind out a series.
On Shapiro and Reedââ'¬Â¦
Starting pitcher Joshua Shapiro did a great job for keeping us there in the game. He didn't have his best stuff, but he made pitches when he needed to. Then Matt Reed coming in and closing it out for us.
On the difference from yesterday to todayââ'¬Â¦
Something we always talk about is finishing, and yesterday we did not finish the game. From the fifth inning on, we didn't play that well. And obviously today, from the fifth inning on, we won the game. We played better defense and ran the bases better. We had better approach with runners in scoring position. All around, our preparation for the game was really good. Guys were working hard on defense and it showed that today.
UP NEXT
The Thundering Herd wraps up its three-game set against the Niagara Purple Eagles on Saturday at 2 p.m.
