Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
33-25
Louisiana
27-31
Herd Baseball Advances With 17-13 Win Over Louisiana
5/24/2025 2:15:00 AM | Baseball
Niu three homers, six RBI in the victory
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Led by a three-homer game from Maika Niu, the No. 4 Seed Marshall University Baseball team (33-25) survived an elimination game with a 17-13 win over the No. 5 Seed Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (27-31) on Friday in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Championship presented by Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama.
"What a good performance by both ball clubs. I give Coach Degg's ball club a lot of credit. We were on the verge of putting them away a couple of times and they just kept fighting," Herd Baseball Head Coach Greg Beals said after the victory. "Give them credit, but our guys did it too. We battled, we put together great at bats up and down the lineup throughout the whole night."
Maika Niu continued his hot streak at the plate with a 4-for-6 night with three home runs and six RBI. The shortstop has hit nine home runs in his last 10 games.
On the mound, Clint Moak earned his third win of the season with six strikeouts in five innings as Nicholas Weyrich registered his seventh save of the season by recording the final five outs by allowing just a hit with three punchouts.
After Louisiana scored three runs in the top of the first, Niu launched his team-leading 12th home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning.
MU continued with what was eventually 11 unanswered runs. In the second, Jackson Halter singled home Ethan Murdoch before Eddie Leon hit a two-out grand slam to make it 6-1.
Then Tyler Kamerer brought home Elijah Vogelsong with a sacrifice fly. Halter followed with a single to plate Cam Harthan. Niu then hit his second long ball of the contest making it 10-3.
The final run of the hot streak came as Nolan Wilson scored on a Harthan groundout in the fourth to extend the advantage to 11-3.
After the Ragin' Cajuns tallied four runs in the fifth, but The Herd answered back with the bottom half of the frame with a Kamerer two-RBI single, a Halter RBI double and a Niu two-RBI triple.
Louisiana cut MU's advantage to 16-13 with four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth, but Weyrich got The Herd out of a bases loaded jam with a pair of outs in the eighth as Niu blasted his third homer for an insurance run in the bottom of the inning before Weyrich closed out the game.
UP NEXT
Marshall moves to Saturday against top-seeded Coastal Carolina. The first game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. EST/12:30 p.m. CST. If The Herd wins game one, game two is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST/7:30 p.m. CST.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Moak, Clint (3-2)
L: Andrew Herrmann (3-5)
S: Weyrich, Nicholas (7)
Batting:
2B: Drew Markle 1 ; Conor Higgs 2 ; Lee Amedee 1 ; Connor Cuff 1
HR: Luke Yuhasz 1
RBI: Drew Markle 1 ; Luke Yuhasz 3 ; Caleb Stelly 1 ; Lee Amedee 2 ; Connor Cuff 3
SH: Brooks Wright 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Drew Markle 1 ; Brooks Wright 1 ; Luke Yuhasz 4 ; Conor Higgs 4 ; Caleb Stelly 1 ; Lee Amedee 1 ; Connor Cuff 1
SB: Drew Markle 1 ; Luke Yuhasz 1 ; Conor Higgs 1 ; Connor Cuff 1
HBP: Caleb Stelly 1
Batting:
2B: Halter, Jackson 1
3B: Niu, Maika 1
HR: Niu, Maika 3 ; Leon, Eddie 1
RBI: Halter, Jackson 3 ; Niu, Maika 6 ; Leon, Eddie 4 ; Harthan, Cam 1 ; Kamerer, Tyler 3
SF: Kamerer, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Halter, Jackson 3 ; Niu, Maika 3 ; Havrilla, AJ 1 ; Leon, Eddie 1 ; Wilson, Nolan 1 ; Vogelsong, Elijah 2 ; Murdoch, Ethan 2 ; Harthan, Cam 2 ; Kamerer, Tyler 2
HBP: Harthan, Cam 1
