Marshall miscue opens door to Mountaineers in 10 innings, 5-4

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After shortstop Jimmy Galusky made two game-saving defensive plays in the bottom of the ninth, West Virginia scored the go-ahead run on a Marshall error in the 10th to salvage a 5-4 win Tuesday night at Appalachian Power Park.

The Mountaineers (15-11) survived despite being outhit 13-5.

“A great win for us,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “This is the first time we’ve beaten Marshall down here since I’ve been here. They play with so much confidence against us, trying to knock us off. It’s a big game for both teams. They’re just really hard to beat for us in this park.”

Corey Bird led Marshall (15-12) with three hits.

The game featured six unearned runs on a combined eight errors, and the last one proved lethal for the Herd, when left fielder D.J. Gee overran a single by WVU’s Ivan Vera allowing Braden Zarbnisky to score from first. That dealt the loss to Patrick Murphy (3-2), Marshall’s fifth pitcher.

The Herd blew a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth, tied it at 4-all in the bottom of the eighth against Conner Doctson, and had WVU closer Blake Smith (2-0) in a first-and-third pickle in the bottom of the ninth. Gee’s liner nearly ended the game but Galusky speared it for the second out. The Mountaineers freshman followed up by fielding Tommy Lane’s chopper to force WVU’s third extra-innings game in eight days.

Smith pitched around a Marshall single in the 10th to finish it.

The teams meet again April 26 in Morgantown.

After loading the bases on three singles in the bottom of the sixth, Marshall pulled ahead 3-1 when Ray Guerrini’s pick-off throw to third base bounced into left field, scoring two runs.

Shaun Wood’s pinch-hit two-run double tied it in the West Virginia eighth before another Marshall error scored Woods for a temporary 4-3 lead.

“That’s a great win for the guys—Shaun Wood, Braden Zarbnisky and Ivan Vera—who weren’t in the starting lineup and had a major hand in the outcome,” Mazey said. “It says a lot about your bench, which is a good feeling for a coach.”

Marshall freshman left-hander Joshua Shapiro had an eventful 5 1/3-inning start. He fanned nine and allowed one hit while pitching around six walks. He departed after 113 pitches and only one earned run.

West Virginia’s Michael Grove threw 71 pitches over five innings of five-hit ball and allowed only an unearned run.

“It starts with our freshmen pitcher that did a great job, he had a no-hitter going (into) the sixth inning, but his pitch count was over 100 … and it was time to get him out,” said Marshall coach Jeff Waggoner.

“We had every opportunity to win this game. We had first-and-third with one out, but weren’t able to cash in. We will see West Virginia again later this month and we will have to get ready for our conference game this weekend.”

WVU first baseman Jackson Cramer was 0-for-3 but walked twice to reach base for the 46th consecutive game.

West Virginia hosts Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, while Marshall is off until opening a Conference USA series Friday at UT-San Antonio.





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