March 1, 2008

Box Score

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C - The Marshall University baseball team scored two runs in the top of the ninth but West Virginia held on for a 5-3 victory in Saturday afternoon's non-conference game at BB&T Coastal Field.

With the loss, Marshall falls to 2-4 overall, while West Virginia improves to 4-2 on the season.

Saturday's meeting was the first between the two teams since 1998, when West Virginia snuck by Marshall with an 11-10 victory.

Trailing 5-1, junior shortstop Adam Yeager, junior third baseman Brandon Casamassima and senior left fielder Jeff Rowley tallied one-out base hits to load the bags in the ninth before junior center fielder Nate Lape tallied a two-run single cutting the Mountaineer lead to 5-3. However, West Virginia was able to cut the late rally short and force a game-ending double play.

West Virginia red-shirt junior right-hander Dan Whitlock gave up three runs on three hits and struck out five in 8.1 innings of work en route to his second victory of the season.

Marshall and West Virginia pitched three perfect innings before the Herd crossed the plate in the top of fourth inning breaking a scoreless tie. Yeager singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a throwing error. Casamassima moved Yeager to third on a sacrifice bunt, and Rowley walked to give the Herd runners on the corners with one out. Yeager then scored on Lape's sacrifice fly to right field to give Marshall the 1-0 advantage.

Marshall took its 1-0 lead into the sixth inning behind solid pitching from sophomore right-handed starter Dan Straily until West Virginia struck for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Mountaineer freshman left fielder Dan Dibartolomeo led things off with a single to center field and later scored on an RBI single to left field by sophomore third baseman Vince Belnome to even the game at 1. Belnome and junior center fielder Austin Markel (who reached on a walk) scored on first baseman Joe Agreste's two-RBI double to right field. Marshall junior right fielder Kurt Lipton and Yeager forced sophomore designated hitter Chris Enourato (who was hit by a pitch) out at home on the play. Agreste was hit home by freshman catcher Tobias Streich, before freshman right-handed reliever Ian Kadish came in to get the last out.

Straily struck out five batters in 5.2 innings pitched and allowed five runs on seven hits and falls to 0-1 on the season.

West Virginia threatened again in the eighth putting runners on first and second with one out, but freshman closer Arik Sikula was able to force a ground out and then senior left fielder Jeff Rowley robbed freshman Grant Buckner of a home run.

Kadish pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief while Sikula pitched one inning of scoreless relief. Each pitcher added a strikeout. Yeager finished the game with a pair of hits, Casamassima, Rowley and Lape each tallied a hit, and Lape recorded three RBIs in the losing effort.

Marshall concludes Bash at the Beach action Sunday, Mar. 2 against Western Carolina. Junior left-hander Brian Mooney is the scheduled starter for the Herd. First-pitch is slated for 10:30 a.m. at Watson Stadium.

Pictures from Bash at the Beach can be found on the Marshall website at http://herdsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/g/2008_baseball