Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Charlotte
@HerdBaseball Drops Series Opener to Charlotte
5/18/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score (PDF)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The Marshall baseball team dropped the series opener on Thursday at Appalachian Power Park against Charlotte, 5-3.
The Thundering Herd falls to 25-27 (12-16 C-USA), while the 49ers improve to 30-22 (16-12 C-USA).
Starting pitcher Wade Martin (3-4) went 7.2 innings on the mound in the loss. He gave up three earned runs and had four strikeouts. Charlotte's starting pitcher Colton Laws improved to 6-2 with the win. Laws tossed six innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits.
"Laws is one of the best pitchers in the conference," head coach Jeff Waggoner said. "We let him groove too much and we got out of our game plan a little bit. We needed to put more bunts down and move him around a little earlier in the game."
"Wade [Martin] kept us right where we needed to be," Waggoner said. "It was a bulldog performance. There was good defense on both sides. Charlotte just had more timely hits."
Each team scored an unearned run in the first inning. Marshall's run came with two errors that benefitted junior Tyler Ratliff. After a one-out single by Ratliff, he stole second and advanced to third after a fielding error by the Charlotte second baseman. Ratliff came around to score on a throwing error by the 'Niners second baseman after a Sam Finfer pop out.
The 49ers pushed its lead to 3-1 with a two-run double by catcher Harris Yett in the top of the second. Later in the game, Yett recorded his third RBI of the game with a double in the top of the sixth, pushing the Charlotte lead to 4-1.
Marshall's bats picked back up in the bottom of the seventh. The Herd led off with back-to-back singles from Shane Hanon and Billy Sager to put runners on the corners. Tommy Lane drove in Hanon with Marshall's third consecutive single of the inning, while Sager moved to third. Reynaldo Pastrana cut the Herd's deficit to one with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Sager.
Charlotte added an insurance run in the top of the ninth with a Zach Jarrett solo home run to left field.
Marshall had five players combine for six hits. Hanon led the Herd by going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Andrew Zban, Ratliff, Sager and Lane each had one hit. Sager and Pastrana both had a RBI.
Matt Reed, Joshua Shapiro and Jacob Bradley made relief appearances for Marshall. Bradley had the longest outing, as he pitched two-thirds of an inning.
Marshall and Charlotte will meet for game two of the series on Friday at Noon.
---HerdZone.com---
