CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Aaron Blair and Josh King combined to strike out 17 and limited WVU to two hits as Marshall shutout the Mountaineers 8-0 at Appalachian Power Park.

With Major League scouts in looking on, Blair (3-1) befuddled WVU batters all night, fanning 11 and holding the Mountaineers hitless through six innings.

“He had a great game and set the tone early on,” said Herd coach Jeff Waggoner.

While Blair dominated the Mountaineers much of the night, he got off to a shaky start in the top of the first inning. Blair walked the first two hitters and hit the third to load the bases with nobody out.

“He struggled and he told me he was rushing his mechanics, and with all the scouts here and this being the West Virginia game he was a little jumpy,”  said Waggoner.

Blair regrouped after a quick conference on the mound and pitched his way out of the jam. Blair struck out the next three WVU batters and the Mountaineers didn’t threaten again in the game. The 6-foot-5 right-hander mowed through the WVU lineup through the next five innings although Waggoner said Blair could have been better.

“Aaron wasn’t as sharp as he usually is,” critiqued Waggoner.  “He wasn’t getting ahead enough.”

Blair did walk four batters and hit two more.

With The Herd’s pitchers dominating, the offense executed the basics, getting runners on base and getting them home.  Marshall scored in four of the first five innings.

Isaac Ballou singled to led off the first and eventually came around to score on a WVU throwing error.

The Marshall bats went back to work in the bottom of the second. Chase Vogelbach and Aaron Bossi each singled to lead off the inning. Waggoner used a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up and Marshall once again took advantage of a WVU error bringing Vogelbach and Bossi home giving The Herd a 3-0 lead.

The Herd broke the game open in the third inning. Eric Escobedo doubled down the left-field line scoring Nathan Gomez.  Vogelbach followed that up with a single up the middle driving home Gray Stafford and Escobedo.

“You want to keep that momentum on your side,” said Waggoner. “They did a good job of getting on base and getting runners over. “

Marshall tacked on two more runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

“It’s always about getting quality at-bats and swinging at quality pitches, and luckily for us they found some holes,” said Waggoner.

King picked up his first save of the season pitching the final three innings. He struck out six and allowed WVU’s only two hits of the game.

Marshall now goes on the road for a four-game series with Radford this weekend and will take on SEC foe Kentucky next week.

Dave Wilson

dwilson@wvradio.com
@DaveWilsonMN
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Comments

  • jb

    Blair is going to make a very good major league pitcher. Also glad to see Marshall win at something against WVU. Mounties really dont care, but at least Marshall fans can actually have a little boasting time.

    March 19, 2013 at 10:30 pm | Reply Report comment

  • CB

    It's people like jb that make this win even more sweeter than it already was. If you think that the Mounties losing didn't bother them, you obviously never played sports.

    March 20, 2013 at 3:12 am | Reply Report comment

    • JB

      I started when I played, im sure you set bench.
      What I said is true. WVU fans dont care that Marshall beat us in baseball. I do, and many die hard WVU fans do, but in general , most WVU fans really donr follow baseball. However they will as WVU teams get much better than past years, because of focus on team now.
      You do realize, that most all Marshall fans are WVU fans first? Right? There is a small number of Marshall fans that dont pick WVU over Marshall. There are many many WVU fans that want Marshall to do well. They are just on different levels of competiton. Most years most sports.

      March 21, 2013 at 6:48 am | Reply Report comment

    • JB

      I have set at Marshall games many years, watching Son and now to grandsons. Like most I was trying to listen to WVU games while I was there. More WVU fans in Huntington than Marshall fans, thats a Fact. Live with it, and enjoy that major baseball victory.

      March 21, 2013 at 6:54 am | Reply Report comment

  • HMM

    The WVU baseball team cared I'm sure. The majority of WVU fans and WVians in general could care less. It's college baseball in WV. Neither team is going to the College World Series

    March 20, 2013 at 8:54 am | Reply Report comment

  • polarbear

    In due time the WVU baseball team will be very good. We will get better players playing in the B12 . A power baseball conf. The newly planed ball park will help as well. The currecnt coach at WVU went to CWS with TCU. We will take some lumps for a few years, but WVU baseball is on the up and up.

    March 20, 2013 at 12:15 pm | Reply Report comment

    • JB

      I agree polar,
      Recruiting alone was great this year considering the short time he had. Just being in the Big12 will increase recruiting and we will get better, fast. mainly because we have far to go. Exciting times for WVU fans. Lets go EERS

      March 21, 2013 at 6:51 am | Reply Report comment

  • JB

    Wow
    Someone please help me pay for typing lessons.

    March 21, 2013 at 7:03 am | Reply Report comment