NORFOLK, VA—The Thundering Herd of Marshall (13-24/6-11) defeated Old Dominion (17-21/5-12) 5-1 behind a three RBI day by first baseman TJ Diffenderfer. ODU senior first baseman Taylor Ostrich (Carroll, IA) had three hits and C-USA Player of the Week PJ Higgins (Wallingford, CT.) had two hits and scored the Monarchs lone run.
ODU scored in the sixth when Higgins led off with a single and Taylor Ostrich followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Higgins would score on Josh Eldridge’s (Lorton, VA.) groundout.
In the Marshall sixth inning TJ Diffenderfer led off with a solo homer, his fourth of the season down the leftfield line to break up the pitcher’s duel between ODU’s Nick Hartman (Katy, TX.) and the Herd’s JD Hammer. Josh King followed with a single and later scored when Tyler Ratliff hit into a double play.
Marshall added three runs in the ninth when Corey Bird doubled home Reed and Diffenderfer would later single in two more runs to make it 5-1.
Diffenderfer finished the day with two hits and three RBI, followed by Corey Bird with four hits and one RBI along with Aaron Bossi with three hits. Marshall tallied 14 total hits to the Monarchs six.
Marshall righthander JD Hammer (1-3) allowed five hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Reliever Kolin Stanley came on in the eighth and Caleb Ross pitched the ninth for Marshall.
The third and final game of the series is Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
MU 000 002 003=5-14-0
ODU 000 001 000=1-6-1
MU: Hammer, Stanley(8), Ross(9) and Reed
ODU: Hartman, Busbice(6), Josephs (9) and K.Sinnen
WP: Hammer(1-3) LP: Hartman(0-4)