May 8, 2012

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- In their third and final meeting of the 2012 season, the Marshall and Eastern Kentucky baseball teams will tangle at Turkey Hughes Field in Richmond, Ky. Wednesday at 4 p.m. 

Marshall (15-31) fell to Eastern Kentucky (24-20) on the road 10-3 on March 27 before dropping another at home 12-4 on April 25.  Eastern Kentucky used both victories over Marshall this season to extend its lead in the all-time series to 36-28. 

Since the most recent meeting two weeks ago, Marshall and Eastern Kentucky have experienced conflicting fortunes.  The Thundering Herd is 1-5, claiming just one win in back-to-back conference series, while the Colonels are 6-1 and have posted monstrous wins over conference foes Morehead State and Tennessee Martin as well as a decisive victory over Dayton. 

In the Tennessee Martin series last weekend, EKU dropped game one but responded with 24 runs over games two and three to win the series. The Colonels proceeded to beat up on Dayon 10-3 in a midweek contest Tuesday evening. 

Senior Richie Rodriguez leads the Colonels on the diamond with a .389 average, 52 runs scored, 15 doubles, and 13 home runs.  Those numbers are all found among the leaders in the Ohio Valley Conference. 

Rodriguez is 5-for-9 (.556) with four runs and two RBIs this season against the Herd.  Four of his five hits have gone for extra bases. 

Marshall hitters have experienced mixed success against an EKU pitching staff that has thrown 17 different arms in the two games.  Nathan Gomez went 3-for-5 and Isaac Ballou was 2-for-4 in the first meeting this season, but the pair went a combined 0-for-9 in game two. 

Conversely, Alfredo Brito and Andrew Dundon went 1-for-6 in game one, but each came away with multiple hits in the second meeting.