Herd to face tough competition at Tennessee Tournament

The Marshall University baseball team will play some tough competition this weekend at the Tennessee Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn.

Marshall (5-5) is scheduled to face No. 17 Ohio State (8-2) on Friday, Connecticut (5-2) on Saturday and Tennessee (7-6) on Sunday.

The Herd comes into the tournament following an 8-0 victory over Georgia Southern on Sunday, with sophomore pitcher Mike Mason earning his second victory of the season. He has a 3.38 ERA and 18 strikeouts in the two wins.

Mason was also the winning pitcher for the Herd when they defeated Ohio State last season.

Mason said this is an important weekend for the team as it prepares for the conference schedule.

"This is the biggest weekend for us besides conference games," Mason said. "If we can compete with these teams then it will mature our younger guys and help prepare them for the tough conference games we play every weekend."

Marshall has played a grueling schedule so far this season, and according to junior shortstop Kyle Socorro, head coach Jeff Waggoner schedules difficult games on purpose.

"Our coach puts up a tough schedule for us," Socorro said. "We like to think of those games as conference games and give the same effort and intensity for every opponent."

Marshall's 14-3 victory over Ohio State last season was its first in 16 attempts and also happened when the Buckeyes were ranked No. 18.

Senior third baseman Josh Valle said he remembers the game well and thinks Ohio State also remembers the game pretty well.

"We played Ohio State last year and beat them pretty good," Valle said. "I'm sure they remember what happened last year and are going to come out ready to play."

Marshall has struggled in some of its games to start the season, and Valle said some of that could be attributed to this being a young team still learning to play together and also to the difference in competition from high school to college.

"It is tough to prepare the younger guys," Valle said. "They are coming in from high school ball and don't realize how tough our competition and conference actually is."

   A constant concern for the players is the fact that Marshall still doesn't have an on-campus baseball facility. It makes it difficult for fans to travel to the games, affects recruiting and also takes home-field momentum away from the team.

   "We are a good team, and we have no facilities to recruit with," Socorro said. "Home-field advantage is a big deal in baseball, because it makes it easier to play and helps the team gain momentum."

   The team returns to Huntington for a scheduled series against LeMoyne University next weekend. Valle said he is hoping for some fans to come out and cheer on the Herd.

   "Come out and support us," Valle said. "It is a lot easier for us to play with the fan support and a lot harder for our opponents to play. College baseball is all about momentum."

Troy Hemingway can be contacted at hemingway@marshall.edu.