The Marshall University Baseball team secured its inaugural series with a 3-2 win over the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday, March 3, the grand opening weekend at Jack Cook Field.

“It’s great to get a series win in the inaugural series here at Jack Cook Field,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We did it with pitching and defense today. We used a lot of our pitching staff. We mixed and matched throughout the game. The thing I really liked was almost everyone on the field made a big play on defense.”

In the bottom of the first inning, the Herd loaded the bases off the combination of a walk and two hit-by pitches. With the bases loaded Jack Firestone pushed the pitch count to 3-1, Firestone roped a ball through the right side to bring in two runs for the Herd.

Firestone reached first and soon stole second. From second base, he scored to push the lead to 3-0 after AJ Havrilla hit the ball back at the mound; in those split seconds, the pitcher threw the ball away, allowing Firestone to score.

Carter Lyles began the game on the mound for Marshall. Lyles kept the Jaspers at bay, striking out three and collecting two scoreless innings. Griffin Miller came out of the bullpen and registered two scoreless innings of his own.

Nick Jodway tallied his first save of the season after holding Manhattan scoreless in the ninth inning to seal the win for the Herd.

In the fifth inning, Manhattan scored two runs to cut the lead to one. However, the Jaspers’ attempts at a comeback fell short as the result of the Herd’s depth in the bullpen.

The Herd won the series 2-1 against the Jaspers to tally their second and third wins of the season.