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March 27, 2005
Herd Baseball Team Sweeps Doubleheader with Eastern Michigan
by Grant Traylor
Huntington News Network Sportswriter
Huntington (HNN) — It was definitely a wild start to Marshall's final Mid-American Conference baseball season, but the Thundering Herd would take the outcomes every day as they swept a doubleheader with the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday, March 26, 2005
The second game was wild from all standpoints as the two teams combined for 14 walks, five hit batters and 22 strikeouts.
Marshall scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning to jump out to a 6-0 lead highlighted by a grand slam for Adam Frederick. Frederick hit the towering fly ball to the deepest part of University Heights sending the crowd of 295 into an uproar.
Marshall pitcher and Huntington native Chris Cummings controlled the Eagles in the first three innings, striking out seven and allowing no hits, but he ran into trouble in the fourth inning.
Cummings lost command of his pitch and allowed three straight walks then hit Brett Witczak to force in a run before Marshall coach Dave Piepenbrink pulled him.
Piepenbrink brought in Brian Knippelmeyer to try to alleviate the damage, but Isaiah Gainforth hit a single past the outstretched arms of Marshall shortstop Brent Mason to plate a pair of runs and then Marshall catcher Nick Wolle cost the Thundering Herd a pair of runs when he threw the ball into right field trying to pick off a runner with two outs. After the error, Knippelmeyer got a ground out by Jeff Hehr to end the top of the third with Marshall on top 6-5.
The Thundering Herd then broke the game wide open with a seven-run fifth inning sparked by five singles, three walks and a hit batter. Following the inning, Marshall held a comfortable 13-5 lead.
Roddy Steiger hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the sixth as an insurance run before Eastern Michigan tried to mount a rally in the top of the eighth inning.
Three walks preceded three singles to bring Eastern Michigan back within 14-8, but Piepenbrink would call on closer Brendon Bump to clip the Eagles' wings. Bump got a pair of strike outs and ground outs in four batters faced as the Thundering Herd won game two of the doubleheader.
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View Photos by Chris Spencer |
Chris Koutsavlis pitched Marshall to a calmer 7-5 victory in game one, going 8 innings and getting an out in the ninth before the Eagles were able to make the game interesting.
In the ninth, Eastern got a walk, a sacrifice and two singles giving the Eagles runners at first and second and one out before Lehrman finally chased Koutsavlis by hitting a RBI double, making it 7-4 with runners on second and third and still one out.
Bump came into the contest and inherited the runners from Koutsavlis, allowing Brad Hrovat to score on a ground out by Witczak. With the tying run at the plate, Bump got a ground out to get the save and preserve the victory for the Thundering Herd.
Marshall finally got to Eastern Michigan pitcher Matt Dimich when they sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, scoring five runs on six hits to ultimately took control of the game.
The inning was highlighted by back-to-back homers by Aaron Jamieson and Joe Glevenyak to give Marshall a 5-2 lead, but the winning runs came across when Mason slapped a two-out single into center, scoring Bubba Pfaff and Frederick to open up a 7-2 lead after seven innings.
Eastern Michigan actually held a 1-0 lead following a home run by Derek Lehrman in the second inning, but Marshall tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the third when Aaron Jamieson scored on wild pitch from Eastern Michigan's Matt Dimich.
Stieger led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a double to right center field. Jamieson hit a sacrifice fly that moved Steiger to third before Tommy Johnson's bloop singled scored him with two outs to give Marshall a 2-1 lead after five innings.
The Eagles immediately got the run back in the top of the sixth as Jeff Davis hit an infield single and then went to second on a throwing error by Koutsavlis. After advancing to third on a ground out, Davis came home following a double by Ryan Arnett. It appeared that Eastern would get more, but Stieger snagged a line drive at first by Matt Moffett to keep the game tied at 2.
Koutsavlis ran his record to 2-1 on the season while allowing five runs on seven hits and striking out seven batters.
With the win, Marshall has now won five of their last six contests after starting the season 2-11. Marshall's offense has done its damage by scoring 50 runs over the stretch of six games while limiting opponents to just 27 runs during the same stretch.
For Saturday's pair of games, Marshall (7-12, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) got 25 hits and 21 runs while holding the Eagles to 11 hits total.
Eastern Michigan (4-15, 0-2) will look to keep Marshall from completing the three-game sweep when they return to University Heights for a 1 p.m. contest.
View Photos by Chris Spencer
