CHARLESTON, W.Va.—The Thundering Herd playing its best baseball of the season. Marshall has won three-straight conference series and Tuesday night downed in-state rival West Virginia 3-2 at Appalachian Power Park.
The Herd scored three times in the second inning and held off a late rally attempt from WVU to split the season series with the Mountaineers.
“Getting a win against the in-state rival is always huge. Everybody played great tonight and made big plays when it was needed,” said winning pitcher Josh King.
King made his second start of the season, striking out six WVU hitters and scattering four hit in 5 2/3 innings of work.
Marshall scored all three runs with two outs in the bottom of the second. Sergio Leon reached on a fielder’s choice, and then stole second to get into scoring position. Tyler Ratliff singed, and Matt Reed drove in Leon on a single through the right side.
“Overall, it was a great team win. Defense was in position to make plays, and pitching handled it on their end. Offensively, we jumped on them early, which was good, because it’s hard to stay up as a team when you put up runs in the early innings,” said Leon.
Robert Fajardo drove a two-strike pitch into centerfield to plate Ratliff and Reed would come around to score on a wild pitch. That was all the offense Marshall would need with WVU’s hitters struggling to make solid contact.
King was lifted in the sixth inning after giving up a solo homer to WVU freshman Shaun Corso and an RBI single to Kyle Davis to cut the lead to 3-2. Junior Caleb Ross came and got the final out of the inning and pitched a perfect seventh inning.
Kolin Stanley came out of the bullpen to the final two outs in the eighth inning and pitched out of trouble in the ninth.
WVU threatened in the final frame, singling to lead off the inning. However, Davis grounded into a double-play and Shaun Wood struckout swinging to end the game.
“I was just glad I was able to come into a situation that allowed me to help the team get a win. It’s always nice picking up a win during the week, and this one was especially nice being against another in-state school,” said Stanley. “A win like this helps keep our team morale up as we go into conference weekend, looking to stay hot and playing like we thought we could at the beginning of the year.”
The Herd looks to keep the momentum going as it travels to Southern Miss this weekend. Marshall has taken 2-of-3 from Old Dominion, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee State the last three weekends.
“Overall, it was a great team win. Defense was in position to make plays, and pitching handled it on their end,” Leon said. “Offensively, we jumped on them early, which was good, because it’s hard to stay up as a team when you put up runs in the early innings. The tone is now set for the week, and now we’re ready for the weekend.”