Next Up: Marshall Presents Next Challenge for Baseball
May 12, 2011 | Baseball
May 12, 2011
5/13/2011 - 5/15/2011
Tulane Green Wave at Marshall Thundering Herd
First Pitch: 9:00 a.m. (Fri.), 1:00 (Sat.), 9:30 a.m. (Sun.)
Stadium: Greer Field at Turchin Stadium
Series: Tulane Leads 12-5-1
Looking at the Green Wave
As the regular season draws near its end, the Green Wave will need to continue to pile up wins if they want to make a postseason push. Tulane enters the final two weeks of the regular season with a 28-20 overall record and sit in sixth place in Conference USA with an 8-10 mark. According to boydsworld.com, Tulane has an RPI of 54 and the Green Wave is still looking to lock up their spot in the Conference USA tournament at seasons end.
Over the last ten games, Nick Schneeberger is leading the way with a .448 batting average to raise his overall season average to .294. He has driven in ten RBI's, scored four runs and walked six times in eight starts during that stretch. Nick Boullosa has had a solid ten-game section, as well, with the senior boasting a .306 batting average with six runs scored and six walks. The Covington, La. native has posted 11 hits and stolen seven bases in nine attempts since April 30. Overall this season, Jeremy Schaffer continues to lead the team with a .365 batting average, 33 RBI's and 39 runs scored. Schaffer paces the league with 21 doubles and is second with 108 total bases thus far in 2011.
Tulane will look to continue their solid pitching this weekend against the Thundering Herd, with the staff owning a 3.29 ERA over the past ten games. Conrad Flynn has tossed 16 innings in his last two starts and allowed just four earned runs on six hits. The senior is limiting his opponents to a .113 batting average over that stretch and will make his 41st start on Friday night. Drew Zizinia will take his 2-1 record into Saturday's start and Alex Byo will look to win his second straight start on Sunday. Nick Pepitone continues to anchor the Green Wave bullpen, posting three saves in his last four appearances. He has fanned four and allowed just five this in six innings of work, while not allowing a run.
The Olive and Blue have won their last two C-USA series, taking two of three games from both UAB and Memphis over the last two weekends. If they can continue their trend of winning two of three games, Tulane can lock up a spot in the C-USA Tournament which will take place at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss. The top eight teams will make the tournament, which is scheduled for May 25-28 at the Mississippi Braves facility.
Looking at the Thundering Herd
Marshall enters the weekend after dropping their midweek game to Radford, 9-7, on Tuesday and falling in two of their three games against East Carolina last weekend. Overall, the Thundering Herd is 18-27 and hold a 5-13 mark in Conference USA play entering the weekend. Marshall has just one Conference USA series win entering play on Friday, taking two of three games at Memphis two weeks ago, and they have been swept twice in C-USA play in 2011.
A pair of upper classmen lead the way at the plate, with senior Kenny Socorro and junior Rhett Stafford leading the squad in nearly every offensive category. Socorro paces the squad with a .344 batting average, 56 hits and an on-base percentage of .397. The power this season has been provided by Stafford as the junior has hit a season-best eight home runs, doubled eight times and leads the team with 33 RBI's and a .540 slugging percentage. As a team, the Thundering Herd is hitting .286 on the season and is averaging 5.7 runs per game.
The Herd pitching staff enters the weekend with a .272 batting average against and a 4.62 ERA, but, as a team, have lost seven of their last ten decisions. Aaron Blair tossed seven shutouts innings in his last start - just his fifth of the season - and limited East Carolina to seven hits in a no decision. On Saturday, Mike Mason will make the start for the Herd and look to build off of six innings of one-run baseball against the Pirates last weekend. Arik Sikula is scheduled to make his team-leading 12th start of the season on Sunday, as the senior is 2-5 on the season with a team-best 63 strikeouts in 64 innings of work.
Inside the Series The first meeting between these two programs came in 2006 when Marshall joined Conference USA, coming over the Mid-American Conference to start the 2005-06 academic year. Since their first meeting on May 5, 2006, the Green Wave owns a 12-5-1 overall record in the series, with a 5-1 mark in games played at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W. Va.
Tulane won eight consecutive games to start the all-time ledger and followed with a four-game winning streak that spanned the 2009 and 2010 seasons. On the other side, Marshall won four of five games from 2008-2009, with the lone non-win coming as a product of a tie that resulted from a travel curfew enactment to end their 2008 series.
