— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall baseball has been in a funk of late, but still has plenty to play for.
Having lost six of eight and nine of 12, the Herd is in a battle to qualify for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as it prepares to welcome UL Monroe for an important three-game-series at Jack Cook Field starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
It’s the final home series of the season for Marshall, which will welcome Virginia Tech on Tuesday for its last game this season in Huntington. The Herd hit the road next weekend to play three games at Texas State.
Marshall (21-27, 11-13) is in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt with Old Dominion and Arkansas State. The Warhawks (25-24, 10-14) are in a four-way tie for 10th with James Madison, Georgia State and Texas State.
The top 10 teams in the league standings advance to the Sun Belt Tournament, which starts May 19 at Dabos Park in Montgomery, Ala.
Both teams were last in action Tuesday as Marshall fell behind early in a 7-2 loss to 15th-ranked West Virginia at GoMart Ballpark, while ULM secured a 10-5 victory against Mississippi Valley State.
“We’ve got to show up on Friday with an opening-day mentality,” Herd head coach Greg Beals said. “You get a little bit of feeling sorry for yourself, and it’s been frustrating because we know we’re talented and we haven’t played to our full potential yet, but there is still time to do that.
“I want our guys to unhitch everything that’s happened and where it’s at, carry no weight with you and show up fresh Friday night.”
This will be the Warhawks’ first trip to Huntington.
ULM has six players hitting .300 or better, a group led by Kade Dupont, who is fourth on the team with 56 hits, but tops in batting average at .366.
Jake Haggard leads the team with 50 RBI is a power threat with seven home runs and 14 doubles, while Marcus Aranda has a team-best 12 home runs to go with 48 runs driven in.
Adam Brodnax, Brandt Corley and JC Dermody are ULM’s traditional starting pitchers throughout the weekend.
The trip has a combined record of 811, and none of the three as a sub-5 earned-run average. Brodnax has been the most productive of the group at 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA and 57 strikeouts across 57.2 innings.
Evan Bottone continues to key the Herd offense with a .380 average and six home runs from his leadoff spot.
Jackson Halter has a team-high seven home runs and AJ Havrilla matches Bottone’s total with six.
Saturday will be Game 2 of the series and marks graduation day for seven Herd seniors — Tim Baird, Halter, Drew Harlow, Cam Harthan, Griffin Miller, Ethan Murdoch and Luke Proehl.
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The Marshall softball team, seeded No. 2 in the Sun Belt Tournament, begins its quest for a postseason run Thursday at 2 p.m. (EST) with a matchup against No. 10 seed Coastal Carolina at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La.
The winner plays again at 4 p.m. Friday against the winner of No. 3 Texas State-No. 6 James Madison.
Top seed UL Monroe takes on No. 8 Louisiana and No. 4 Southern Miss battles No. 5 South Alabama in the two other quarterfinals Thursday.
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Add another name to the haul from the transfer portal for Marshall men’s basketball, increasing the program’s offseason portal additions to six up to this point.
Former DePaul Blue Demon center Khaman Maker announced his move from Chicago to Huntington earlier this week. Maker is 7-foot-1 and hails from Juba, South Sudan.
He began his American basketball journey by playing at Trinity Prep in Nevada and first played collegiately at St. John’s.
Maker had limited production in limited action last season at DePaul.
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The Marshall women’s basketball team has another addition by way of transfer in 5-9 senior guard Anaya Harris, who played last season at Gardner-Webb.
A native of Raleigh, N.C., Harris was productive for the Bulldogs last season and averaged 10.1 points and 2.9 rebounds. She scored a season-high 22 points against Presbyterian.
Harris has battled injury throughout her career and was limited to eight games two seasons ago as a result of one.