Marshall Baseball failed to seal the deal for a series sweep on Sunday, March 24, falling to the Arkansas State Red Wolves at Jack Cook Field in 14 innings, 6-4.
Two wins across two contests on Friday and Saturday had already clinched the Herd the series over the Red Wolves. Sunday’s contest was the first to enter extra innings.
“Tough loss today,” Marshall head coach Greg Beals said. “We went a long time and asked a lot of Nick Weyrich.”
Weyrich, the Herd’s top reliever this season, entered the matchup in the seventh inning and proceeded to pitch 7.2 innings, earning nine strikeouts. Marshall starting pitcher Carter Lyles only pitched 3.2 innings, and Griffin Miller and Alex McKay combined for 2.1 innings of pitching. Peyton Schofield relieved Weyrich in the top of the fourteenth inning to finish the final third of the frame.
Weyrich, a right-handed closer, pitched the most innings of any bullpen-birthed player in the contest.
“Weyrich pitched his tail off and just kind of ran out of gas there at the end,” Beals said. “It was his game, and he wanted the ball, so we kept the ball in his hands.”
After a busy yet scoreless first inning, two errors in the top of the second combined with effective batting for the Red Wolves allowed Arkansas to claw its way into an early 2-0 lead. Calin Smith then scored for Marshall from second base in the bottom of the third inning after Arkansas State’s shortstop Austen Jaslove committed a throwing error.
All was quiet once again until the top of the seventh inning, as a then-cold Weyrich entered the contest for Marshall and proceeded to surrender two runs in the top of the frame, struggling early. The Herd refused to quit, rallying back in the bottom of the ninth frame.
“We had a heck of a ninth inning,” Beals said. “We rallied and put three singles on the board to load the bases. We were able to score in that inning.”
Erratic pitching from 0.00-ERA Red Wolves pitcher Hudson Ross enabled hot Herd bats to load the bases and rally, tying the contest 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth.
Weyrich and a slew of Red Wolves pitchers sliced through the next through innings before Marshall loaded the bases in the bottom of the 13th, but couldn’t capitalize. Two runs from Arkansas State from a then-sputtering Weyrich, who was over 120 pitches on the day, earned the Red Wolves the game-winning lead runs in the top of the fourteenth inning.
“We had opportunities offensively to finish that ballgame,” Beals said. “We just weren’t able to get that key hit we had in the first two days of the series. We had key hits when we needed them and didn’t today.”
Marshall falls to an 8-15 overall record and a 2-4 record in Sun Belt Conference play. The Herd’s next contest is Tuesday, March 26, at Blacksburg, Virginia, dueling the Virginia Tech Hokies. First pitch for the contest will be at 6 p.m.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Beals said. “I told them after the game that today was a great fight. We just have to play cleaner to win these big games.”
