Marshall University Athletics
Sunday, March 17
Huntington, W.Va.
1 p.m.
Marshall University
12-6, 0
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FIU
10-9, 0
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Marshall
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Photo by: Adam Gue
Baseball Scores Seven Unanswered Runs to Defeat FIU in Series Finale on Sunday
3/17/2019 7:57:00 PM | Baseball
Marshall starts C-USA action 2-1
Box Score/Play-By-Play | Photo Gallery
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall baseball (12-6, 2-1 C-USA) scored seven unanswered runs to go with 7.2 scoreless innings from the bullpen on Sunday to defeat FIU, 7-4, and take the opening conference series at the Kennedy Center.
"Winning a series is always big in Conference USA, it's a great conference," 13th-year head coach Jeff Waggoner said. "Just being down four runs and having the confidence to comeback today was great. This group believes in one another. It's fun to watch how their confidence builds."
Patrick Murphy came into the ballgame in relief of Philip Hoffman with the score 4-0, runners at first and second and one out in the second inning. Murphy struck out Shenton and Reynaldo Pastrana caught FIU's Cartaya stealing to end the inning on a double play.
"It's fun," Murphy said about getting back on the hill this season after missing the last season and a half with an injury. "I started out a little slow, but I'm starting to get back into it and it's a lot of fun to be around the guys."
Murphy went on to throw 4.2 scoreless innings in the contest, allowing just one hit and one walk to keep the Herd in the ballgame to go with five strikeouts.
"Patrick came in and kept us close being a bulldog in the situation he came in," Waggoner commented on Murphy's day on the bump. "The rest of the bullpen did the job, too."
After the Panthers struck for a pair of runs in each of the first two innings, Tucker Linder cut the Marshall deficit in half, 4-2, with a two-out two-RBI single in the bottom of the second.
Elvis Peralta then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a two-RBI double down the left-field line.
Hunter Sexton came in to pitch the top of the seventh and set down FIU 1-2-3 in the inning, including a pair of strikeouts.
D'Andre Knight followed up Sexton in the eighth retiring the side in order and striking out Valdes looking to end the inning to keep the score tied, 4-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Herd benefitted from three-straight singles by Geordon Blanton, Peralta and Linder to load the bases with no outs.
After a Shane Hanon, foul out, Marshall designated hitter Zach Inskeep came to the plate. He came into the at-bat 0-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Inskeep drove an 0-1 pitch down the left-field line to clear bases with a three-RBI double to put the Herd on top, 7-4, heading to the ninth.
"He (Inskeep) is a great hitter," Waggoner said of Inskeep. "But more importantly he's a great teammate. He's fun to be around, he brings energy and comes to work every day."
Closer Michael Guerrero came in and shutdown the Panthers without allowing a baserunner to earn his second save of the season and get Knight his first win.
Marshall has a busy week ahead with a mid-week game at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va., at 4 p.m. on Wednesday before traveling to Charlotte for a three-game series this weekend to continue C-USA action.
"It's one game at a time. We'll take tomorrow off, get a good practice in on Tuesday and get ready to take on a good Virginia Tech team," Waggoner said.
NOTES
- The Herd bullpen faced the minimum of 15 batters in the last five innings of the game.
- Three Herd batters reached base three times in the game, Hanon, Inskeep and Blanton. Hanon did so without the benefit of a hit on two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
- Guerrero is on a streak of 9.2 innings without allowing a run. He has only given up three hits and seven walks while striking out 14 batters in that span.
- Inskeep leads the Herd with a .415 batting average and 18 RBI and is tied with anon for the team lead in hits with 27.
- Hanon saw an eight-game hitting streak come to an end, but extended his on-base streak to 12 games.
- Inskeep is now on a 12-game hit streak and has had at least two hits in eight of those games.
- Peralta extended his streak to seven games.
- Murphy has gone three straight outings, 7.2 innings, without giving up a run.
- Knight has gone five consecutive appearances, five innings, without giving up a run.
For all the latest information about Marshall baseball, follow @HerdBaseball on Twitter and @HerdBSB on Instagram.
To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS and Android.
---HerdZone.com---
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall baseball (12-6, 2-1 C-USA) scored seven unanswered runs to go with 7.2 scoreless innings from the bullpen on Sunday to defeat FIU, 7-4, and take the opening conference series at the Kennedy Center.
"Winning a series is always big in Conference USA, it's a great conference," 13th-year head coach Jeff Waggoner said. "Just being down four runs and having the confidence to comeback today was great. This group believes in one another. It's fun to watch how their confidence builds."
Patrick Murphy came into the ballgame in relief of Philip Hoffman with the score 4-0, runners at first and second and one out in the second inning. Murphy struck out Shenton and Reynaldo Pastrana caught FIU's Cartaya stealing to end the inning on a double play.
"It's fun," Murphy said about getting back on the hill this season after missing the last season and a half with an injury. "I started out a little slow, but I'm starting to get back into it and it's a lot of fun to be around the guys."
Murphy went on to throw 4.2 scoreless innings in the contest, allowing just one hit and one walk to keep the Herd in the ballgame to go with five strikeouts.
"Patrick came in and kept us close being a bulldog in the situation he came in," Waggoner commented on Murphy's day on the bump. "The rest of the bullpen did the job, too."
After the Panthers struck for a pair of runs in each of the first two innings, Tucker Linder cut the Marshall deficit in half, 4-2, with a two-out two-RBI single in the bottom of the second.
Elvis Peralta then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a two-RBI double down the left-field line.
Hunter Sexton came in to pitch the top of the seventh and set down FIU 1-2-3 in the inning, including a pair of strikeouts.
D'Andre Knight followed up Sexton in the eighth retiring the side in order and striking out Valdes looking to end the inning to keep the score tied, 4-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Herd benefitted from three-straight singles by Geordon Blanton, Peralta and Linder to load the bases with no outs.
After a Shane Hanon, foul out, Marshall designated hitter Zach Inskeep came to the plate. He came into the at-bat 0-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Inskeep drove an 0-1 pitch down the left-field line to clear bases with a three-RBI double to put the Herd on top, 7-4, heading to the ninth.
"He (Inskeep) is a great hitter," Waggoner said of Inskeep. "But more importantly he's a great teammate. He's fun to be around, he brings energy and comes to work every day."
Closer Michael Guerrero came in and shutdown the Panthers without allowing a baserunner to earn his second save of the season and get Knight his first win.
Marshall has a busy week ahead with a mid-week game at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va., at 4 p.m. on Wednesday before traveling to Charlotte for a three-game series this weekend to continue C-USA action.
"It's one game at a time. We'll take tomorrow off, get a good practice in on Tuesday and get ready to take on a good Virginia Tech team," Waggoner said.
NOTES
- The Herd bullpen faced the minimum of 15 batters in the last five innings of the game.
- Three Herd batters reached base three times in the game, Hanon, Inskeep and Blanton. Hanon did so without the benefit of a hit on two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
- Guerrero is on a streak of 9.2 innings without allowing a run. He has only given up three hits and seven walks while striking out 14 batters in that span.
- Inskeep leads the Herd with a .415 batting average and 18 RBI and is tied with anon for the team lead in hits with 27.
- Hanon saw an eight-game hitting streak come to an end, but extended his on-base streak to 12 games.
- Inskeep is now on a 12-game hit streak and has had at least two hits in eight of those games.
- Peralta extended his streak to seven games.
- Murphy has gone three straight outings, 7.2 innings, without giving up a run.
- Knight has gone five consecutive appearances, five innings, without giving up a run.
For all the latest information about Marshall baseball, follow @HerdBaseball on Twitter and @HerdBSB on Instagram.
To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS and Android.
---HerdZone.com---
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Knight, D'Andre (1-1)
L: Fletcher, Greyson (1-1)
S: Guerrero, Michael (2)
Batting:
2B: Teixeira, Juan 1
RBI: Cartaya, Derek 2 ; Valdes, Javier 1 ; Hampton Jr., Lorenzo 1
SH: Chavez, Luis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ford, Jarrett 1 ; Cartaya, Derek 1 ; Teixeira, Juan 1 ; Rodriguez, John 1
CS: Cartaya, Derek 1
HBP: Ford, Jarrett 1
Batting:
2B: Peralta Jr., Elvis 1 ; Inskeep, Zach 1
RBI: Peralta Jr., Elvis 2 ; Linder, Tucker 2 ; Inskeep, Zach 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Peralta Jr., Elvis 1 ; Linder, Tucker 1 ; Zban, Andrew 1 ; Cabrera, Raul 2 ; Blanton, Geordon 2
CS: Lovely, Jaren 1
HBP: Hanon, Shane 1 ; Inskeep, Zach 1 ; Pastrana, Reynaldo 1 ; Zban, Andrew 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
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OF
/ BaseballC/INF
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RHP
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OF/INF
/ Baseball
LHP
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C
/ Baseball
RHP
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