Marshall Baseball came away from its weekend trip to South Alabama with a win to start the series but could not hold onto the momentum, dropping the final two games and the series overall Sunday, April 19.
The Herd opened strong Friday night with a 6-2 win. Marshall took an early lead and kept it. The offense did enough to stay ahead, and the defense did not give South Alabama many extra chances.
Bryce Blevins handled the pitching and limited South Alabama’s chances throughout the night. The Jaguars struggled to string anything together against him, allowing Marshall to stay in front from start to finish.
Blevins secured the 19th win of his career, earning a tied spot for second-most in the program’s history. He threw seven strikeouts and only gave up two runs across all 9.0 innings.
At the plate, the Herd progressively built its lead up until the fifth inning and then added an insurance run in the top of the eighth to close out the win.
“We played a very tough brand of baseball again tonight, and it starts on the mound, and Bryce was superb tonight,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We made plays on defense and gave really good at bats for the most part.”
Saturday did not go the same way.
Marshall scored first on a hit from AJ Havrilla with Tyler Kamerer crossing the plate. The small gap did not last long as South Alabama answered in the bottom half of the inning and continued to apply pressure. A stretch of scoring from the Jaguars put the Herd behind 6-1 by the third and forced them to try to catch up.
Marshall did have some individual performances that stood out. Jackson Halter delivered a home run late in the game to earn his sixth of the season, and several players recorded multiple hits. Sophomore Blaine Albright pitched two solid innings and finished with three strikeouts.
Even with those efforts though, the Herd never fully clicked, falling 7-3 to even the series.
“Today was not our day,” Beals said. “Offensively, South Alabama executed a good plan against Harlow. I thought Drew pitched better than his numbers – they found a lot of holes. Give their pitchers credit – they pitched us tough today, and we were unable to get much going offensively. The mission is to win a road series. We hoped to win today with a chance to sweep, but that didn’t happen. The mission is ongoing, and we look forward to completing it tomorrow.”
Sunday’s matchup was a nailbiter for most of the game.
Both teams played through a slower pace early with neither side creating much separation. South Alabama struck first in the third, but Marshall responded and tied the game in the fifth. The lack of action created anticipation for who would pull through out of the tie.
South Alabama did just that.
The Jaguars broke through in the eighth inning with a key scoring push that created a gap Marshall could not close. The Herd went scoreless in the ninth, falling 4-1 and dropping the series.
The Herd now returns to Huntington for a weekend series against Troy with their first game on Friday, April 24, at Jack Cook Field.
Ella Hatfield can be contacted at [email protected].
