BOX SCORE
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- In typical Morehead State-Marshall fashion, it was a barnburner, but the Eagle baseball team fended off the 'Herd 5-4 Tuesday at the Kennedy Center YMCA.
MSU improved to 27-15 overall, while Marshall fell to 22-18.
"In order for us to be a good club here at the end of the season, we are changing our philosophy on the road, and you saw that today," said head coach
Mike McGuire. "We have to manufacture runs, and we did that. I thought we pitched it well too, only one walk."
The Eagles vaulted ahead 3-0 in the top of the third as senior shortstop
Reid Leonard plated freshman right-fielder Zach with an RBI double down the right-field line. With the bases loaded, senior left-fielder
Jake Hammon reached on a catcher's interference to push across Leonard. Junior third baseman
Dom Peroni then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score senior center-fielder
Connor Pauly.
After Marshall scored twice in the fourth, junior second baseman
Ryan Layne generated the fourth run with a ground out to his position.
The 'Herd tied the contest with two home runs in the fifth.
The Eagles' patience in the top of the eighth resulted in a run to take the 5-4 lead, and it held. Pauly drew a bases loaded free pass.
Leonard led the offense with three hits.
Sophomore righty
Alex Garbrick got the starting nod and left with the game tied 4-4. Senior lefty
David Looney (1-1) held the 'Herd off the board for 2.1 innings, while sophomore lefty
Cory Conway collected his first save of the season and fifth career by nailing down the final six outs.
Morehead State travels to Jacksonville State for a three-game OVC set this weekend. Game one is Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
