Marshall University Athletics
HERD SPLITS EARLY MORNING DOUBLEHEADER WITH MONARCHS
5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, W.Va.-The Thundering Herd baseball team split a doubleheader with Old Dominion Friday morning in two slugfest that saw the teams combine for nine home runs over the course of the day. Game one ended in an 11-6 Marshall victory, while Game two saw ODU strike back with an 8-2 win.
The split puts The Herd at 19-24 (7-16 C-USA) on the season. Old Dominion is now 13-31 (6-17 C-USA).
Reynaldo Pastrana dominated the first game, driving in five of Marshall's 11 total runs. The junior catcher finished with two hits, three runs, five RBIs, and a walk. Tucker Linder and Geordon Blanton also drove in two runs with two hits each. In the second game Peter Hutzal racked up three hits in four at-bats, finishing with a run and an RBI thanks to a solo home run.
Game One saw relief pitcher Sam Boone get his first win of the season to move to 1-0. Boone pitched 1 1/3 innings allowing one hit, one run (earned), with three walks and a strikeout. Jacob Bradley earned his first save of the season going three innings and allowing five hits, four runs (earned), with three strikeouts and no walks. ODU starter Morgan Maguire fell to 3-6 in 4 2/3 innings allowing 10 hits, eight runs (eight earned), and walking two with two strikeouts.
In Game Two Joshua Shapiro was the losing pitcher for The Herd. The starter went six innings allowing four hits, four runs (four earned), with five strikeouts and two walks. Monarch's relief pitcher Luke Krantz got his first win of the season, pitching three innings and allowing four hits, one run (earned), with five strikeouts and one walk.
Marshall took the lead in the second inning of Game One on an RBI triple by Linder that scored Hutzal from first. Blanton then hit a sacrifice fly to center field for an RBI, allowing Linder to jog in from third base and make it a 2-0 game.
The Herd's lead expanded in the third inning off the bat of Pastrana, whose three-run homer scored Will Ray and Kody Matthews and gave the team a 5-0 lead.
Old Dominion put a run on the board in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Marshall responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs of its own on an assortment of base hits and walks to make it 8-1.
A solo shot by ODU in the sixth made it 8-2, before back to back home runs by Pastrana and Hutzal gave The Herd an 11-2 lead.
ODU hit another solo homer in the eighth to make it 11-3, and then a three-run homer in top of the ninth made Game One look a little closer on the scoreboard at 11-6.
In Game Two the Monarchs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and expanded that lead in the second with another run.
A solo home run by Hutzal in the second inning made it a 2-1 ballgame.
ODU added another homer to its tally in the sixth for two more runs, and then a run in the seventh opened up a 5-1 lead.
An RBI single by Andrew Zban to center field scored Erik Rodriguez in the bottom of the seventh to cut ODU's lead to 5-2, but a two-run homer followed by another run gave the Monarchs an 8-2 victory.
Marshall finished Game One with 11 runs off a season high 18 hits and played a clean game with no errors. ODU had six runs off eight hits with no errors. In the second game, The Herd finished with two runs off of eight hits with one error. The Monarchs had eight runs off eight hits with an error.
Up next the two teams meet one more time Sunday at 10 a.m. in a rubber match with C-USA Tournament hopes on the line at Appalachian Power Park.
