Baseball back into C-USA action

The Marshall University baseball team is slated to host Southern Miss for a three-game Conference USA series beginning Friday afternoon at 2:05 p.m.  The two teams will square off again on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. before wrapping up the series with a 10:35 a.m. Sunday start. Southern Miss leads the overall series between the two teams 13-5
Marshall (13-19, 4-5 C-USA) played outstanding last weekend in Birmingham, Ala., taking two of three from the UAB Blazers. 

Unfortunately those winning ways eluded the Herd during two midweek affairs, as the Herd lost to a pair of Ohio Valley Conference opponents in Morehead State (15-6) and Eastern Kentucky (10-0).

Righthanded pitcher Ian Kadish will toe the rubber in the first game.  The righty allowed just three earned runs on two hits in his Friday start at UAB, but struggled with his control walking nine batters.

Kirby Pellant has been the catalyst at the top of the Thundering Herd order.  Against UAB the second baseman was 7-for-13 (.538) with two triples, three doubles and five RBI.

Shortstop Kenny Socorro enters the three-game set on a 15-game hit streak.  The junior went 4-for-5 against Morehead State and collected a base knock against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

Southern Miss (17-14, 1-5 C-USA) finds itself in the basement of the C-USA standings after being swept last weekend by the UCF Golden Knights. 

USM was able to knock off the University of New Orleans (3-2) to snap a four-game losing streak.

Saturday's starter for the Black and Gold, Todd McInnis, tops the conference statistics in ERA (3.04) and second in strikeouts (61). 

He has also logged 53.1 innings on the year, which is second best in that category.

As a team,The Golden Eagles own the third best on-base percentage in the conference (.421) and three players individually rank in the top-10 in that statistic.

Taylor Walker, Adam Doleac and B.A. Vollmuth have been a three-headed monster for the Golden Eagles offense.  The trio is all hitting at least .380 at the plate and combine for 15 homers and 107 RBI.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Friday
Marshall: Ian Kadish, RHP (1-2, 4.89 ERA) vs. Southern Miss: Scott Copeland, RHP (4-0, 3.79 ERA)

Saturday
Marshall: Mike Mason, LHP (2-5, 9.34 ERA) vs. Southern Miss: Todd McInnis, RHP (2-3, 3.04 ERA)

Sunday
Marshall: Arik Sikula, RHP (4-2, 3.89 ERA) vs. Southern Miss: To be announced