Marshall and West Virginia are scheduled to meet for the third and final time in the baseball regular season on Wednesday.
The final game is played at a neutral site, GoMart Ballpark in Charleston. Tickets to the game have already sold out.
The Mountaineers (37-5) enter ranked No. 16 by D1Baseball, No. 4 in the nation by Perfect Game and eighth by Baseball America. òòò½ÊÓƵU is coming off of a weekend road Big 12 sweep of UCF.
òòò½ÊÓƵU is 16-3 in the Big 12, sitting in first place, and its RPI is 15th.
The Thundering Herd (23-22, 9-12 SBC) swept Sun Belt Conference foe South Alabama at Jack Cook Field in Huntington over the weekend, scoring 18 runs on 23 hits in three games. Marshall has now won five straight.
The Herd is on the bubble for making the SBC tournament, tied for 10th in the league with Georgia State and Texas State.
òòò½ÊÓƵœWeòòò½ÊÓƵ™re really focused on this team and what we can do,òòò½ÊÓƵ Marshall coach Greg Beals said in a release following the Sunday win. òòò½ÊÓƵœOur goal is to make it to Montgomery and play in the conference tournament so that we can get a taste of championship baseball.òòò½ÊÓƵ
Marshall has three more conference series remaining òòò½ÊÓƵ” road trips to Old Dominion and Georgia State and a final series against Georgia Southern that begins at home on May 15.
òòò½ÊÓƵœWe just need to keep playing good baseball,òòò½ÊÓƵ Beals said. òòò½ÊÓƵœWe have five in a row now in the win column. Going to Charleston is a great event. (West Virginia) coach (Steve) Sabins and I are in agreeance with playing three games a season and getting that game in Charleston òòò½ÊÓƵ” we always have a great turnout, and itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s already been declared a sellout. Itòòò½ÊÓƵ™ll be a great day for baseball in the state of West Virginia.òòò½ÊÓƵ
òòò½ÊÓƵU has won the first two games of the season series. In Granville, West Virginia won 7-0 and held Marshall to four hits. òòò½ÊÓƵUòòò½ÊÓƵ™s Chase Swain had a home run and finished a 2-for-4 outing with two runs and two RBIs.
In that first contest, Marshall did not have a player with more than one hit. Herd pitcher Fenix Digiacomo took the loss by allowing six earned runs on four hits.
In the second game, Marshall took then-No. 21 òòò½ÊÓƵU to the wire, losing on a go-ahead steal of home in the ninth inning, 5-4.
Joel Gardner had two doubles, driving in a run. The Herd also got a better composite from the bullpen as no pitcher relented more than three hits, but a miscue from Marshall pitcher Tim Baird in which he didnòòò½ÊÓƵ™t notice Swain stealing home allowed the fatal blow.
Marshall now is coming off one of its hottest weeks, totaling 60 runs on 68 hits in the past seven days.
Eddie Leon leads Marshall with a .278 batting average. Ethan Murdoch is now up to nine homers. Peyton Jackson, projected to pitch for the Herd, is 2-2 with a 1.47 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings.
òòò½ÊÓƵœItòòò½ÊÓƵ™s great, coming out and getting the sweep,òòò½ÊÓƵ Beals said of the Herdòòò½ÊÓƵ™s weekend success. òòò½ÊÓƵœWinning today and taking care of business, we needed that. Weòòò½ÊÓƵ™re climbing the ladder in those (Sun Belt Conference) standings. We have three more weeks to hopefully continue doing the same thing.òòò½ÊÓƵ
òòò½ÊÓƵ for the Mountaineers, òòò½ÊÓƵU ties No. 1-ranked Texas for the highest winning percentage in the country at .881. Skylar King leads the Mountaineers with a .361 batting average. Jace Rinehart leads òòò½ÊÓƵU in RBI with 43. He and Logan Sauve have seven homers apiece to lead the team.
