Marshall University Athletics
@HerdBaseball Finishes Regular Season Road Schedule at Louisiana Tech
5/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RUSTON, La. - The Marshall baseball team closes out its regular season road schedule with a three-game set at Louisiana Tech, beginning Friday at 7 p.m. (ET). The Conference USA series continues Saturday at 3 p.m. (ET) and finishes Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET).
ON THE MOUND:
Friday: RHP Wade Martin (3-3, 4.09 ERA) vs. LHP Kyle Griffen (5-1, 2.42 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Jacob Niggemeyer (2-3, 5.93 ERA) vs. RHP Nate Harris (7-0, 1.31 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Will Ray (3-2, 4.19 ERA) vs. RHP Matt Miller (1-1, 4.28 ERA)
HAVE YOU HERD?
The Thundering Herd (25-23, 12-12 C-USA) has won its last five games, including its first Conference USA sweep of the season. Marshall began the win streak by avoiding a sweep at Old Dominion on Sunday, April 30. The Herd followed by sweeping WKU this past weekend at the Kennedy Center Field. The Herd defeated longtime-rival Ohio on Tuesday night to tie its longest win streak of the season.
Senior Sam Finfer was named Co-Conference USA Hitter of the Week and College Sports Madness Conference USA Player of the Week. Finfer finished last weekend 8-for-12 with five RBI, four runs scored, three doubles and two homers. He leads the Herd, C-USA and ranks seventh in the NCAA for home runs with 16. Finfer also leads Marshall this season in hits (63), doubles (17), RBI (48), total bases (128), slugging percentage (.703), on-base percentage (.412) and batting average (.346).
Will Ray has been dominant on the mound over his last two starts. The junior tossed five shutout innings at Old Dominion on April 30. Ray allowed only four hits and had two strikeouts. He out did himself the following weekend against WKU. The Evansville, Ind., native pitched seven shutout innings and allowed two hits and had a career-high seven strikeouts.
LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS
Marshall is currently tied for seventh place with Rice at 12-12 in conference play with two weekends left to play. Southern Miss is in first place with a conference record of 19-5, followed by Old Dominion (16-8), Florida Atlantic (15-9), Charlotte (14-10), Louisiana Tech (13-11) and UTSA (13-11). FIU is a game behind Rice and Marshall at 11-13. Southern Miss is the only team to have clinched one of the eight spots into the tournament so far.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Louisiana Tech (32-16, 13-11 C-USA) has been one of the hottest teams in the conference of late. The Bulldogs have won its last five series, including a sweep over WKU. They took two-out-of-three against Rice, Old Dominion, UAB and FIU. Louisiana Tech features five players with a batting average over .300.
#OneHerd
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UP NEXT
Marshall finishes its regular season schedule by hosting the Charlotte 49ers in Charleston, W.Va. at Appalachian Power Park from May 18-20.
