Marshall University Athletics
HERD PREPARES FOR SEASON FINALE VS. #14 SOUTHERN MISS
5/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BECKLEY, W.VA.-The Thundering Herd baseball team closes out the 2018 season against Southern Miss the latter half of this week in Marshall University's last spring sporting event of the year. The Herd (19-28, 7-18 C-USA) was last swept by Charlotte. Southern Miss (36-15, 20-6 C-USA) is coming off a 14-9 home loss to New Orleans, but is ranked 14th in the nation after another excellent regular season. Game one will be Thursday at 3 p.m. after its original start was moved up due to possible bad weather, Game two will be Friday at 2 p.m., and the series concludes Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
ON THE MOUND
Thursday vs. USM LHP Ryan Falls (0-1, 4.79 ERA) vs. Nick Sandlin (7-0, 1.15 ERA)
Friday vs. USM KHP Joshua Shapiro (2-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Walker Powell (6-2, 3.60 ERA)
Saturday vs. USM TBA vs. TBA
HAVE YOU HERD?
--The race for the 2018 Herd home run king will continue into Marshall's last week of play after Peter Hutzal homered against Charlotte last week to stay tied with Reynaldo Pastrana at 12 home runs each. The duo is tied for sixth in C-USA.
-- Reynaldo Pastrana is up for C-USA first team, player of the year, and defensive player of the year after an excellent 2018. The catcher ends the season leading Marshall in games started (47), at-bats (189), runs (35), hits (68), doubles (13), RBIs (47), total bases (117), slugging percentage (.617), on-base percentage (.413), and is tied for homers with 12.
--Other award candidates include Peter Hutzal, who is up for newcomer of the year, and Geordon Blanton, who was nominated for the all-freshman team. Blanton has stolen 16 bases this year in 19 attempts while batting over .350 with runners in scoring position.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
--Luke Reynolds is up for newcomer of the year and player of the year after dominating his first season in C-USA. Reynolds is batting .392 this season with 61 runs, 71 hits, 13 home runs, and a .718 slugging percentage (all team-highs). He also leads the Golden Eagles with 52 walks.
--Nick Sandlin is frontrunner for pitcher of the year after transitioning from closer to starting pitcher this year for USM. The move has been effective to say the least, as Sandlin is undefeated (7-0) with a 1.15 ERA in 78 1/3 innings pitched. He has allowed just 40 hits and 10 earned runs all year. The junior has 114 strikeouts to 14 walks in 2018.
#HerdFamily
For all the latest information about Marshall Baseball, follow @HerdBaseball on twitter.
