Marshall baseball shuts out Georgia Southern Eagles

STATESBORO, Ga. – Mike Mason pitched 6.2 innings of shutout work on the mound with a career-high nine strikeouts while the top five batters in the Thundering Herd lineup combined for 12 hits to lead the Marshall University baseball team past Georgia Southern University, 8-0 on Sunday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium.

Mason (2-0) not only had a new career-high in strikeouts, he had his career-best with 6.2 innings on the mound for the Herd, which evened its record to 5-5 on the season.  The lefty tallied six of his nine strikeouts swinging and only surrendered six hits and two walks.

Tyler Gatrell threw 1.1 innings with three strikeouts and Austin Coan pitched a scoreless ninth to help preserve the first Herd shutout since the squad beat Youngstown State 4-0 on March 13.

Trent Franzago (1-1) was credited with the loss as the Eagles fell to 5-7.  The right-hander worked the first 4 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts.

The top five hitters in the Herd lineup combined for 12 of the team's 14 hits against the Eagles.  Josh Valle and Kurt Lipton each went 3-for-5 at the plate, while Isaac Ballou, Victor Gomez and Alfredo Brito each tallied a pair of hits.

The Herd showed life in the top of the second inning when Lipton began the frame with a single to right.  Brito lined a two-strike base hit to left field to put two runners on with no outs.  Franzago retired Rhett Stafford on a pop up and induced a ground ball double play off the bat of Nathan Gomez to escape the early threat from the Herd.

The Herd finally busted out in the top of the third with a two-out spurt.  Ballou lined a base hit to right field and promptly stole second on the first pitch to Valle. Valle roped a line drive off the first base bag into the right field corner for a double, scoring Ballou for the first mark of the game.

In the bottom of the third, the Eagles put Mason in a jam.  After the lefty struck out the first batter, the Eagles loaded the bases with consecutive singles and a walk.  Mason worked his way out of the challenge by striking out cleanup hitter A.J. Wirnsberger and retiring Kevin Bowles by fly out to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.

The Herd struggled to score in the first two games of the series, until the Herd managed a three-run breakthrough in the top of the fourth.  Kris Hecktor hit two-out double down the leftfield line to plate Stafford and Nathan Gomez for the freshman's first extra base hit of his collegiate career.  Hecktor would race home on a single to left field by Ballou to round out the scoring spree with the Herd up, 4-0.

Stafford hit his first homer of the season in the sixth inning against the Eagles reliever Andy Moye to extend the Herd advantage, 5-0.

In the eighth, the Herd tacked on another run to make the lead 6-0.  Brito sent a base hit into left field, his second of the game.  Pinch runner Justin Maynard entered and stole second and third base before running home on a sac fly from Nathan Gomez.

Victor Gomez launched a two-run hit in the top of the ninth to round out the scoring on the day, 8-0.