June 20, 2008

Championship Sunday started like most New Orleans mornings that week: humid, sticky and hot. With so much on the line in a few hours across town, the Marshall players were remarkably loose in the hotel lobby awaiting the bus's arrival. Maybe 6:45 a.m. is too early to get anxious or nervous, or maybe this was a Thundering Herd club that knew it was playing its best baseball of the season with its ace about to take the hill.

On three days rest, Blevins would return some normalcy to the starting pitcher position as he got the nod against USM. The Louisa, Ky., native tallied 97 pitches in six innings with five strikeouts and left the game with MU trailing 3-2. Blevins, as he had done all season long, provided a quality start and gave his team a chance to win. Left-hander Andrew Blain pitched the seventh inning unscathed, acting as a bridge to Straily for the final two frames.

MU was down a run in the eighth with a runner on second when the struggling Tommy Johnson came to the plate. Johnson, who hit only .182 in New Orleans and caught all but one inning of the heat-soaked tournament, came through in the clutch with a game-tying RBI single. Southern Miss then intentionally walked Lape to load the bases for C-USA All-Freshman Team member Victor Gomez. The first baseman, who was also hitting well below his regular season average at the tournament, dropped in a two-out, two-run single to centerfield to give the Herd a 5-3 lead heading into the ninth.

Straily, who induced an inning-ending double play in the eighth, retired the Golden Eagles in order in the ninth to give the Herd a berth in the championship game. It also marked the first time all season that the Golden Eagles lost a game when leading after six innings.

Adrenaline pumped through MU's temporary clubhouse after the victory, although celebration was short-lived as anticipation for the championship game set in. The Herd had just won three elimination games in approximately 27 hours, all in 90-degree heat, and had to gear up for the program's biggest game in 30 years in approximately 90 minutes.

While fatigue was a concern, it was not evident around the Herd. Blevins was the lone Herd pitcher to ice after the morning victory as he would be unavailable following 15 innings in five days. Adkins looked to Straily to start the championship game a short time after he picked up the win that eliminated the Golden Eagles and made MU just the third No. 6 seed to play for the C-USA title.

The title game was tighter than most would have anticipated since both teams' pitching staffs were wearing thin in their respective sixth game of the tournament. Straily was again outstanding, pitching 5 2/3 innings with only four hits and two runs allowed. Both clubs ushered five pitchers each to the mound in a game that was knotted at 2-2 after seven-and-a-half innings.

Marshall was frustrated because it knew it had left runs on the field due to base running errors coupled with a pair of fantastic UH outfield assists. In the first, Yeager was caught stealing third base with no outs. In the second, Casamassima was doubled off second base when he thought a Lipton line drive would land in the gap. And in the sixth, two Marshall base runners were thrown out by UH right fielder Bryan Tully at third base trying to advance from first base.

Also, in the eighth, UH's Blake Kelso robbed Lipton of a two-out RBI when he snared a line drive up the middle. The exceptional Cougar defense eventually led to a run in the bottom of the eighth. An infield error and an unsuccessful inning-ending double play attempt by MU allowed the Cougars to plate the game-winning run without benefit of a hit. MU was retired in order in the top of the ninth for a 3-2 win for Houston and the league's automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.

The Herd was emotionally and physically drained after the championship tilt. Heads hung low while the Cougars celebrated on the field, but the Herd had laid a foundation for future success with its historic run, which culminated in the chance to play for a championship in one of the nation's best baseball conferences along with its first national television appearance.

While it offered little solace at the time, four players were named to the all-tournament team: Yeager, Lape, Straily and Blevins. Lape's 11 RBI are the fourth most in C-USA tournament history and he and Casamassima stroked three home runs apiece, tying for second most in a tournament. Yeager's nine stolen bases and seven walks are new tournament standards, which helped the Herd to a record 20 stolen bases for the week. Further, Straily pitched 15.1 innings and Blevins pitched 15 innings, the second and third most innings, respectively, in C-USA tournament annals.

The all-tournament selections, along with the runner-up trophy, gave the Herd its first pieces of C-USA hardware. With the program making giant strides in a short amount of time in this league, perhaps MU should leave space for trophy case additions in the near future.

Written by Brandon Parro