The Thundering Herd swept a pair from Coppin State in a mid-week tune up Wednesday afternoon at Epling Field in Beckley. Marshall shutout Eagles 9-0 in game one and pulled out a 3-2 win in the second game.
Game 1: Marshall 9 Coppin State 0
Marshall scored early and often in game one of the twinbill. Victor Ramos tripled in a pair of runs in the second inning and Nathan Gomez knocked in another in the third inning to give Marshall a 3-0 advantage. Gomez picked up his second RBI in the fifth inning as Marshall plated six more runs to put the game away for good.
Marshall used five pitchers in the ballgame. They combined to give up just two hits and struck out ten.
Game 2: Marshall 3 Coppin State 2
The second game was a much tighter affair that took The Herd until it’s next to last at-bat to take the lead.
Victor Gomez doubled to lead off the second and would eventually come around to score on a Thor Meeks sacrifice fly. Gray Stafford knocked a triple into left center but was left stranded 90 feet away.
The Eagles answered in the top of the third. Jesse Savage reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a wild pitch. The next batter, Derek Richards, doubled into left center scoring Savage and tying the game at 1-1. Not to be out done, Zach Spawn smacked a double into left driving home Richards and giving Coppin State a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Marshall capitalized on Eagle mistakes to retake the lead for good. Gray Stafford was hit by a pitch with one out and was able to swipe second base thanks to a wild pitch. Victor Gomez came through again for The Herd hitting a triple into right field and scoring the go ahead run from second.
Next up for The Herd is a conference battle with Houston at Appalachian Power Park. The Cougars are 4-2 in conference and second in the C-USA standings. The first game is set for Friday night with the first pitch at 7.