No experience necessary.
Marshall played in and won its first-ever Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament game on Wednesday, jumping ahead early and holding off No. 5-seeded Louisiana 9-5 in Montgomery, Alabama.
ƵThis is a good win for us to start the tournament off in the right way,Ƶ Thundering Herd coach Greg Beals said. ƵWeƵve been playing good baseball down the stretch, and we continued to do so tonight.Ƶ
Jackson Halter had a stellar night against his former team. The senior transfer homered in the first Marshall at-bat before doubling later on to finish 3 for 5 on the day. He finished a triple shy of the cycle.
ƵWe talk about answering the bell,Ƶ Beals said. ƵThis game was supposed to play at 7 p.m. (Central time) and it gets going at 8:55. We sat at the ballpark and talked as a team that we were ready to answer the bell. Halter definitely did that with the leadoff homer.Ƶ
AJ Havrilla, Eddie Leon and Nolan Wilson added two hits apiece. Wilson homered late in the game to push Marshall out further. The Herd scored nine runs on 13 hits and left seven runners on base.
ƵI really liked our approach offensively and how we were able to get hits when we needed them and get innings started,Ƶ Beals said. ƵWe had contributions up and down the lineup tonight.Ƶ
Bryce Blevins earned his sixth win, allowing two earned runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Charlie Krebs allowed four hits and two earned runs before Nicholas Weyrich entered for the final out to close the game.
ƵWe got great performances,Ƶ Beals said of his pitching. ƵBryce Blevins gets us into the sixth inning, and Charlie Krebs had a gritty performance out of the bullpen.Ƶ
The win places Marshall into a matchup with No. 1-seeded Coastal Carolina, the regular-season SBC champion. The game is slated to begin at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
ƵWe came here on a mission to win this tournament,Ƶ Beals said. ƵIf youƵre going to win it, youƵre going to have to go through Coastal Carolina at some point, especially on our side of the bracket. WeƵre going to get them tomorrow night, and weƵre going to be ready to answer the bell.Ƶ
Marshall has now won seven straight and 14 of its last 16 games.
The tournament is double-elimination. The Ragin' Cajuns will have a win-or-go-home game with No. 9-seeded Georgia Southern, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Halter started off the tournament in fine fashion. Facing a 2-2 count, the Marshall right fielder crushed a home run to right field to give Marshall the first lead.
ƵEverybody believes in everybody,Ƶ Halter said. ƵNo one is really selfish on this team, so I think thatƵs why we hit good when we need to hit good.Ƶ
From there, the Herd held Louisiana without a run through four innings via Blevins. Named a preseason all-conference first-teamer, Blevins showed why by striking out two and allowing just one hit in four frames of work, burning through it in just 13 batters.
In the bottom of the third, Marshall broke the game open.
Tyler Kamerer singled before Halter doubled to score him. Maika Niu then singled to spark the carousel. AJ Havrilla singled to score Jackson Halter, Leon singled to score Niu and Wilson reached on a fielderƵs choice to score Havrilla.
Niu has tallied a hit in 10 of his last 11 games.
With five hits in the frame, Marshall led 5-0 after four innings while leaving two runners on base.
ƵWe have really shored up our approach here in the last month,Ƶ Beals said. ƵThereƵs a confidence level that has fed into that as well. Between the approach and making sure that weƵre on our pitches and not trying to do too much Ƶ weƵre being really good hitters. Power is going to show up.Ƶ
Tate Hess drew the start for Louisiana, entering with a team-best 6-2 record. He was removed in the fourth in favor of Blake McGehee, allowing five earned runs on eight hits in just three innings.
Louisiana came alive in the fifth. Drew Markle hit a ball initially ruled a home run. But video review gave the RaginƵ Cajuns a ground-rule double that immediately turned into runners on the corners after a Luke Yuhasz single.
Caleb Stelly then hit a sacrifice fly to give Louisiana its first run and cut the deficit to four. Higgs followed with an RBI single to make it 5-2 and end BlevinsƵ day.
Krebs entered in relief, finishing the frame without allowing another run.
Griffin Hebert entered for Louisiana in the home half of the sixth, making just his third appearance of the season after throwing just two-thirds of an inning all season.
The lack of film didnƵt affect Marshall as Cam Harthan pumped a single to lead off the Herd. After a single from Halter, Hebert was taken out. Niu walked via the next pitcher, James Trimble, and the bases were loaded.
Havrilla then singled to plate two more and give Marshall its margin back, leading 7-2 after six.
Marshall added insult to injury in the bottom of the seventh. After Elijah Vogelsong doubled to the Marshall bullpen in left field, Nolan Wilson ripped a line-drive home run over the left-field fence to give the Herd seven insurance runs.
ƵƵ far as approach goes, we were hunting our pitch and really zeroing in on that and not leaving any other variables,Ƶ Wilson said. ƵWe want the pitch we know we can crush.Ƶ
With the damages, Marshall has scored 162 runs in the past 16 games, with seven straight games at nine runs or more.
Louisiana looked to make a comeback in the eighth.
The Cajuns scratched a pair of runs on an RBI double by Yuhasz that ultimately turned into a de facto homer on a pair of Marshall errors. The RaginƵ Cajuns trailed 9-4 with no outs.
Two more errors put runners on the corners for Louisiana. Lee Amedee then legged out an RBI infield single for his third hit of the night to cut the margin to four with two runners on, but Marshall turned a double play to stop the bleeding.
In the ninth, Louisiana put two runners on before Weyrich induced a groundout to finish the job.
ƵOur defense got a little loose behind (Krebs) in the eighth inning,Ƶ Beals said. ƵBut we were able to pull it together and get a double play to finish it. We went to Nick Weyrich in the last inning to get that last out.Ƶ
LOUISIANA 000 002 030 -- 5 3 0
MARSHALL 104 002 20X -- 9 13 5
Hess, McGehee (4), Hebert (6), Trimble (6), Taylor (6) and Torres; Blevins, Krebs (6), Weyrich (9) and Wilson.
Hitting
(Louisiana) Markle 2-5 2B, Yuhasz 3-5 RBI 2B, Amedee 3-4 RBI (Marshall) Halter 3-5 2 RBI 2B HR, Havrilla 2-4 3 RBI, Leon 2-5 RBI, Vogelsong 1-2 2B, Wilson 2-4 3 RBI HR.
