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Herd freshman left-hander Joshua Shapiro (14) made an impressive start in the 10-inning loss to West Virginia on April l5 at Appalachian
Power Park. Shapiro pitched 5 2/3 hitless innings against the Mountaineers. Since then, the Columbus, Ohio, native has moved into the
weekend rotation, replacing senior JD Hammer, who is out with a strained oblique
Photo by Falecia Collier
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Seeing Red
Features
Braxton Crisp: Former Herd right-hander Dan Straily was traded
by the Astros and waived by the Padres in the final days of spring
training, but now he’s close to his college home as he settles in
with the Reds
What it takes
Jack Bogaczyk: Marshall baseball hasn’t reached an NCAA regional since 1978, but the 2016 Herd has given more than Coach Jeff
Waggoner reason to think that a ‘Diamond Dance’ berth is possible
A first
Aaron Bossi hit for the cycle – a Marshall baseball first – on April 3,
but the senior infielder from St. Louis has provided much more than
that record day in his four years in the Herd program
Relief
Steve Cotton: As Burris Warner adds to his save total approaching the
Marshall season record, the fearless right-handed junior-college transfer from Florida brings a big-time fastball from the Herd bullpen
New ‘big 3’
Herd football Coach Doc Holliday sees the newcomers at defensive
tackle ready to replace graduated veterans … and position coach J.C.
Price says Nyquan Harris, Tomell One and Jason Smith are ready
Peppy Pepe
New Herd running backs coach Pepe Pearson was a star at Ohio
State and joins the MU staff with plenty on his resume, as he points
toward his goal of one day being a college football head coach
Quarterback Club
Bill Cornwell: When you attend the Green-White Game to close spring
practice, you’ll not only learn more about 2016 Herd football, but you’ll
be contributing to the fundraising by the MU Quarterback Club
Cut to the ‘Chase’
Chase Hancock came from Beckley as a Marshall football walk-on,
and his dreams of earning a scholarship and making an impact are
being realized in only his second year on the field for the Herd
Logan’s longing
As title-winning Logan Lagodich closes his Marshall golf career with
all of the shots in his bag, he’s pointed toward a goal he’s had since
his grade-school days in Canton, Ohio – the PGA Tour
‘Pulfer-izing’ records
Marshall swimmer Madi Pulfer just returned from the Canadian
Olympic Trials, but prior to that, the sophomore from Ottawa and
her Herd teammates sent the school record book to a watery grave
Marshall’s James Kelly was chosen as one of 64 NBA hopefuls for the
Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational Tournament last week, and the 6-foot8 forward finished with averages of 11.3 points and 4.3 rebounds
in his three games for Portsmouth Partnership. Kelly shot 14-of26 (.538), including 3-of-11 on 3-pointers, and made all three of
his free throw attempts. He had four blocks. Kelly was the first PIT
participant from the Herd since 1981, when point guard Greg White
played in the NBA prospects’ event
Photo by Rick Haye
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The Herd Insider Magazine
Straily settling in with new role in Reds’ bullpen
CINCINNATI — This time of year for professional baseball players is
always a bit hectic, with clubs heading to their hometowns from spring
training locations in Arizona and Florida for the start of the season.
But no adjective can do justice to the two weeks of change Marshall mound
alumnus Dan Straily recently endured.
Straily started spring training in Kissimmee, Fla., with the Houston Astros,
but was traded on March 28 to San Diego in exchange for veteran catcher Eric
Kratz. Then five days later (April 1), Straily was claimed off waivers by the
Reds and hopped a flight later that day to Cincinnati.
The following Sunday, Straily made his Reds debut in relief of rookie starting
pitcher Tim Melville, going three innings without allowing a hit or run, but
did allow a walk and hit a batter while striking out three. The Reds defeated
Pittsburgh 2-1 in that one.
Straily also got into last Wednesday’s loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field
allowing two earned runs in the Reds’ 9-2 loss on the North Side, and then
allowed one run in a three-inning stint last Friday night in a loss at St. Louis.
Through three relief appearances (8 1/3 innings), Straily has a 3.24 ERA,
allowing 3 hits and 3 earned runs, with 8 strikeouts and 4 walks.
This is Straily’s fifth organization in his professional career, after being
drafted by the A’s, then traded to the Cubs and Astros before his brief stop
with the Padres. While with the Oakland, Chicago and Houston organizations,
Straily was primarily used as a starting pitcher, but has moved to the bullpen
for the time-being in Cincinnati. Despite the change, Straily is simply happy
to be in the Major Leagues.
“Obviously I want to be in the rotation, that’s just the competitor in me that
wants the ball in that type of situation,” Straily said prior to a 10-6 Cincinnati
win over Philadelphia at Great American Ball Park on April 7. “I want the ball
in any situation.
“I just want to pitch, and being a starting pitcher you know when you’re
coming in, and you’re able to prepare that way. So, I’m still learning how to
do it out of the bullpen.”
Reds Manager Bryan Price said Straily’s experience in the big leagues gives
the club flexibility with using
Straily as a long man out of the
bullpen, but also as a starter
should injuries cut into the
depth of the rotation.
“There are times here where
we haven’t had anyone on our
staff that we felt comfortable
pitching more than two
innings,” Price said. “With Dan
getting stretched out in spring
training, it gives us a fallback
with the weather, with the
young pitchers, not having to
ask anybody to do too much.
“He can come in and go out there and throw four or five innings of relief
and save the bullpen, or pitch in extra innings, or make that spot start you
talk about, or come in after a two-hour rain delay and you burned your
starter in the second inning.
“And then here comes Dan, capable of getting you into your late-inning relief
pitching. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity anymore, especially in the National
League and in an environment where you know you’re going to get some rain.”
Regardless of how Straily gets into games, he’s still the only current
Marshall alumnus playing in the Majors and one of just eight from Conference
USA. He said representing the Marshall program in the Majors adds credibility
to the Herd’s team.
“Hopefully, they get a chance to go to a (NCAA) regional this year, get another
guy called up to the big leagues this year, maybe two, and more positive press
going toward that program would be huge,” Straily said. “Because they’re still
fighting, trying to get a baseball park, and having more success of players
coming out of the program is probably going to help that even more.”
Straily is a new teammate of a former Conference USA foe in Rice alumnus
Tony Cingrani, who is the Reds’ long-relief lefty.
Straily said they haven’t talked much about the C-USA days because that was
over five years ago for both of them and they were only in the league at the
same time for one year, but there has been a little ribbing between the two.
“I told him he wasn’t good enough because I didn’t remember him and he
said, ‘That’s fine I don’t remember you either,’” Straily said with a chuckle.
While the 6-foot-2 Straily is currently the only Herd alumnus in “The Show,”
many Marshall fans are likely aware that former ace Aaron Blair is on the
cusp of his Major League debut. Blair is starting the season at Class Triple
A Gwinnett in the Atlanta Braves’ system. He’s 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two
International League starts.
Straily, 27, said he and Blair have gotten to talk in the last couple of years,
especially with both of them playing in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League
part of last season.
“I really hope he gets the opportunity over there; I think he should,” Straily
said of Blair. “I pitched against him last year, saw him pitch another time or
two. He’s got the stuff, obviously, so I really hope he gets his opportunity
soon and get his career going in the Major Leagues.”
Their first meeting of the 2016 season – in spring training —
happened quite by accident. The Braves train in Orlando, Fla., with
the Astros in nearby Kissimmee.
“This year, I was actually sitting at a restaurant and I got a text from him
saying, ‘Hey, are you at this place?’” Straily explained. “And it was 30 minutes
from my complex and an hour from his, so I don’t know how he ended up
there, but we were both at the same restaurant.”
Meanwhile, Straily is getting a welcomed chance to catch his breath
and settle in with his third club in less than a month. And Herd fans
have an opportunity to see a Son of Marshall play in the bigs only 150
miles from Huntington.
Former star Herd right-hander Dan Straily has pitched well in long
relief for the Cincinnati Reds, his fifth MLB organization
Photo by John Minchillo (AP)
Herd Insider columnist and photographer Braxton Crisp is a senior
broadcast journalism major at Marshall, where he covers Thundering Herd
athletics for WMUL-FM. He was awarded the Arnold-Turner Scholarship as The
Parthenon Reporter of the Year in 2014.
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HerdInsider.com
Herd baseball fever? It’s catching this spring
HUNTINGTON — The enthusiasm for Marshall’s baseball performance
this season is understandable. After all, the Herd nine hasn’t had a winning
season 22 years, since Coach Howard McCann’s 1994 club went 23-20.
When the 2016 season began, the Herd players’ oft-stated goal was to
reach the eight-team Conference USA Tournament. C-USA coaches picked
Marshall to finish 12th – that’s last place. The goal was a respectable one.
Marshall hasn’t appeared in a C-USA bracket since 2010.
And while the performance of Coach Jeff Waggoner’s club in the first half of
the season has been solid and a surprise to some, a competitiveness within
C-USA – one of the nation’s top four or five college baseball leagues – has
brought a bit more fervor to the spring.
Waggoner has even spoken about the hope his Herd could perhaps
somehow squeeze a bid to the 64-team NCAA Tournament that opens with 16
regionals. Marshall wouldn’t be picky about where it is sent.
No Marshall team has reached the “Diamond Dance” since Coach Jack
Cook’s 1978 team reached the regional final at Miami (Fla.), with the
Southern Conference champion Herd beating Florida State and Clemson
before losing a pair to the host Hurricanes … one game shy of the
College World Series.
So, what’s it going to take to get where the Herd hasn’t been since
Waggoner was a preschooler? Well, first things first. Marshall has to
finish the deal.
The Herd not only has to reach the C-USA Tournament; it likely has to finish
in the top five in the league regular-season standings to even get an NCAA
selection committee sniff. A tournament title would bring one of 31 automatic
bids, but Marshall is more likely to land one of the 33 at-large spots.
Marshall (17-15, 7-7 through Saturday) had its best 30-game start to a
season since 2001 and began
a weekend series in Beckley
against nationally ranked Florida
Atlantic in fourth place in C-USA,
with a solid Ratings Percentage
Index ranking of 105 and at No.
99 in strength of schedule.
The Herd is halfway through
its C-USA schedule, with
series remaining at Charlotte,
Middle Tennessee and Western
Kentucky, and home threegame sets versus UAB and Old Dominion at Appalachian Power Park. Nonleague dates remain with Eastern Kentucky at the Kennedy Center, at West
Virginia and Ohio, and against Wake Forest at Beckley’s Epling Stadium.
Waggoner’s club needs to win those four non-conference dates, and
probably has to finish at least 18-12 in the league schedule to be an NCAA
candidate and get to the top 60 in the RPI. And there’s recent history to
suggest that playing in that ballpark – no pun intended – should have
“Waggs” & Co. on pins and needles on Selection Monday, May 30.
OK, about that history …
In last season’s NCAA regionals, 30 of the 33 at large selections were in
the RPI top 40. Yes, it’s tough to get to the Diamond Dance. The sub-40 RPI
teams that reached the field were Tulane (No. 43), Clemson (56) and Oregon
See BOGACZYK, Page 25
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The Herd Insider Magazine
Bossi delivers much more than first Herd cycle
By JACK BOGACZYK
school or freshman year of high school and that was just a little bit.
Herd Insider Editor
“I want to pitch. I’d love to play all nine positions in a game. I know they
know that I could do it, it’s just the time and the place for it.”
HUNTINGTON — The last guy from St. Louis to hit for the cycle in baseball
wasn’t a Cardinal.
However, the guy is from that bleed-red passionate Major League city, and
he does possess one of the national pastime’s revered names … Aaron.
So, maybe Marshall Coach Jeff Waggoner should have figured the versatile
Aaron Bossi would be a gamer when the St. Louis native signed with the Herd
only about two months before his freshman year began in August 2012.
“Aaron has been one of the hardest-nose players in the program since
I’ve been here,” said Waggoner, whose team goes to Charlotte for a
three-game Conference USA series this weekend. “Solid work ethic, great
student, great person.
“He’s our team leader, our grinder, our vocal guy. We go when he goes.
The success he’s had couldn’t happen to a better person. He’s the core of our
team and he’s gotten better every year.”
Oh yeah, about that cycle … Bossi went single, triple, homer, double in a
10-4 victory over Louisiana Tech at Appalachian Power Park on April 3 … in
the first six innings. He popped out in his last at-bat in the eighth.
Bossi, a senior, also had an RBI with each hit, and those four made for
a career high.
And his cycle – they don’t happen every day; there have been only 306 in
MLB history to date — is believed to be the first in Herd baseball history.
Waggoner, in his 10th season, said he’s never seen one. Former Herd
coaches Jack Cook and Dave Piepenbrink – their years date back to the mid60s — said they don’t remember one. Past Herd media guides and record
books, in a list of “last time” happenings like a no-hitter or multiple grand
slams occurred for the Herd, don’t mention a cycle.
“Only one? Wow, that’s cool,” Bossi replied when told the opinion is he had
the first Herd cycle. “I’ve never had one, no. Here, I’ve barely hit home runs
(four for Marshall), much less a cycle.”
Yes, until Bossi’s first four at-bats on an early April Sunday, the Herd’s only
cycle was an exercise bike.
But to profile his baseball life in Waggoner’s program in four at-bats
wouldn’t do him justice. A four-year starter, Bossi, 22, has played every
infield position, most often at second and third.
“I played a few innings at first base my freshman year,” Bossi said, “and
I’ve played some at short. I haven’t gone to the outfield yet. I had to learn
to catch last year when we had some injuries. I hadn’t caught since middle
After batting .207 and .213, respectively, in his first two Herd seasons, the
5-foot-11, 205-pounder has built himself into a hitter, averaging .306 last
season and .315 so far in 2016, with two homers, 19 RBI and six steals.
“The improvement in hitting, I think a lot of it is just maturity,” said
Bossi, who gained his undergraduate degree in business management in
three years and is working on his master’s. “Experience goes into that. I’ve
learned what doesn’t work and obviously what I was doing the first two
years wasn’t working.
“So, I just became a student of the game more. I watched more Major
League games and just tried to do what they’re doing. I think now it’s
just more a comfort level. I think anyone can go in there and hit, as
long as they’re comfortable.
“Sure, the mechanical part of it matters, but what matters more is your
mentality in there. I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a lot tougher in the
box and that’s helped me hit a lot better.”
Waggoner said Bossi’s grasp of the game has changed, too.
“Honestly, I think it’s his approach that’s made a difference,” the Herd coach
said. “It’s just playing the game and learning to make adjustments, and his
swing has gotten better, just as a whole evolution of his game has gotten
better. Aaron knows how to be in the right mindset.
“He’s been through the conference. He knows what kind of pitch is thrown
on what counts; he knows how to make adjustments in games. Those are
things you don’t understand as a young guy. You might have a good swing as
a freshman or sophomore but the key is mental and he’s come to understand
the mental part of the game the last two years.”
Bossi, most often at second base and in the middle of the Herd lineup this
season, wasn’t considered a Division I prospect when he starred at St. John
Vianney high School in St. Louis. So, he took a junior college offer to Parkland
College in Champaign, Ill.
Then came summer, and Herd assistant coach Tim Donnelly saw Bossi play.
“I wasn’t really heavily recruited, so I signed with Parkland as a second
baseman/pitcher sort of deal,” Bossi said. “Then I got a call from a (summer)
team I pitched against in high school, the Ohio Warhawks. They wanted me
to play with them after I graduated. So, I played a few tournaments and
See BOSSI, Page 25
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HerdInsider.com
Herd’s Warner stays cool, throws heat
HUNTINGTON — Bases loaded, nobody out, eighth inning, a 5-4 lead. A
trip to the mound; a check of the bullpen. The coach signals for his hardthrowing right-hander.
What’s tougher for a pitcher than that?
But Marshall’s Burris Warner is not your average reliever. The
Thundering Herd junior from Auburndale, Fla., views it as another
day at the office – his office consisting of a mound of clay, 18 feet in
diameter and 10 inches high.
Warner was summoned into that very setting as Marshall entertained
Louisiana Tech at Appalachian Power Park on April 1. He coaxed three
straight pop flies to the right side – one in foul territory to his first
baseman sandwiched between two to very shallow right field – and the
Bulldogs were turned away.
After Warner took care of the Techsters again in the ninth, Marshall had a
7-4 win. The April Fool’s joke was on LaTech.
A week later he faced a nearly identical situation – on the road this time,
in San Antonio. Marshall led 4-2, bases filled with Roadrunners, none away.
This time, Warner entered and struck out three straight UTSA hitters, the
deliveries including a fastball that lit the radar guns up at 96 mph. Again he
returned for the ninth to complete his save in an 8-3 Herd victory.
So, Warner is on pace to shatter the school’s saves record. He had eight
entering Sunday’s game in Beckley versus FAU. The standard is 12 by
Austin Coan in 2010.
A self-described “low key, mellow guy,” one of Warner’s strengths is his
ability to remain calm even on the edge of the cliff.
“I don’t go in thinking about getting out of it without allowing any
runs,” Warner said. “My mindset is just to make good pitches and
minimize the damage. Then if I can get us out of that it really seems to
give the team a spark.”
Indeed, when Marshall came to bat in the bottom of the eighth after Warner
denied Tech, the Herd added two insurance runs. Marshall plated four in the
top of the ninth at UTSA.
“(Warner) is a calm guy who’s the same every day when you see him, but
when he crosses those lines, man, is he a competitor,” Marshall pitching coach
Josh Newman said. “He brings a contagious energy and great work ethic and,
as good as he’s been, he’s on a path to keep improving.”
Eugene Burris Warner III is by no means a finished product, the mid-90s
fastball notwithstanding. He only began pitching in the summer prior to his
junior year for the Auburndale High School Bloodhounds. Until then he’d
patrolled center field.
“We were playing summer ball and we ran low on pitchers and they
just said, ‘Hey, we need you to go warm up,’” Warner said. “All I knew
to do at first was grab the ball and try to throw it in the strike zone.
I realized pretty quickly that there was a lot more to pitching that I’d
ever thought about.”
Even without much experience on the mound, Warner’s powerful
right arm made people notice and he committed as a high school
junior to pitch for Seminole State Community College, about 75 miles
away in Sanford.
He began his freshman year at Seminole State as a starter, but transitioned
to the bullpen and then did the same thing as a sophomore. Despite his lack
of a defined role, Warner’s fastball was now consistently in the low 90s and
he’d become a major college prospect.
Florida Atlantic wanted him. At one point he thought he’d accept an offer to
Florida and another time to Kentucky, but nothing felt quite right and he kept
his options open all the way into last summer.
Warner suited up for the Sanford River Rats in the highly competitive
Florida League, a wood bat circuit featuring top college talent. A fellow
River Rat was Marshall third baseman/pitcher Tyler Ratliff, who knew a
gem of an arm when he saw it.
“Tyler and I were talking and when he found out I hadn’t signed
anywhere yet he asked if I might be interested in Marshall,” Warner
recalled. “I said, ‘Sure, I’ll listen.’
“So he told the coaches
about me and they then
got in touch and eventually
came to see me pitch. Then
I made a visit to Marshall
and liked it and committed.”
The day after he committed,
Warner received an offer from Ohio
State, but his mind was made up.
“I had committed to
Marshall, and that’s that,”
he said. “Once I made that
commitment to the school I
wasn’t going to back out of it.”
Warner moved to Huntington last fall and this time there was no indecision
about his role. The Thundering Herd coaches wanted him on the mound at
the end of games.
“When I got here to Marshall and started working with Coach Newman,
some things really started falling into place,” Warner said. “We made a couple
of adjustments that helped me gain command of my fastball, and my other
pitches, too, and it has made a big difference.
“My biggest thing was being able to repeat my mechanics. The way I go
about it is that I just try to pick out something to work on and improve upon
every single day … keep making progress.”
Warner estimates he throws between 80 and 90 percent fastballs in any
given appearance, and his attention to detail and work ethic are appreciated
by his pitching coach.
“The development that he’s shown since showing up in the fall is tremendous,”
Newman said. “He works hard at it. He generates a lot of power from his lower
half and has a short, quick arm such that the ball jumps on guys.”
Some closers are reserved for the ninth inning, but Warner’s experience
in other roles and Coach Jeff Waggoner’s long-held philosophy of using his
closer earlier if needed fit perfectly.
Two days after his six-out save in the series opener at UTSA,
Warner pitched the last three innings and was credited the win in the
Sunday rubber match.
“Since I did spend time as a starter, pitching two or even three innings is not
that unusual for me,” Warner said. “I like the way we attack those situations. If
they think there’s a situation where they need me in the eighth inning, or even
the seventh inning, because there are guys on base and the game might be won
or lost right there, I want to be the guy who comes in then.
“If I do the job and get us out of a jam in the eighth, then we’ll figure
out the ninth.”
The biggest change in his permanent move to the bullpen was in learning to
be ready every single time the Herd takes the field.
“Depending on how the game is going, by the bottom of the sixth or top
of the seventh inning I go to the bullpen – since I know the coaches won’t
hesitate to bring me in for a couple of innings,” Warner said. “I start out by
stretching and at this point, after I’m stretched out, now I can be warmed up
and ready to go into the game with as few as 10-12 pitches.
“I’ve developed the routine to make sure I’m ready to throw on back-toback days, or to throw two out of three days. I’m learning a lot about how to
do that, both physically and mentally.
“It’s not easy – you have your bad days – but it’s really growing for me.”
Warner also feels that this year’s Herd has what it takes to advance
to the C-USA Tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss., which would make it
Marshall’s first since 2010.
“It is a long season and you hit some bumps,” he said. “But we’ve
meshed as a team and we have a good mindset to set ourselves up well
for the tournament.”
Veteran play-by-play broadcaster Steve Cotton – a record 10-time West
Virginia Sportscaster of the Year — is in his 23rd season on the Thundering
Herd/IMG Sports Network.
8
The Herd Insider Magazine
Price looking left and right for new interior line
By JACK BOGACZYK
Herd Insider Editor
HUNTINGTON — Asked to tackle a question on the loss of Marshall’s top
three interior defensive linemen from 2015, Coach Doc Holliday didn’t flinch.
“I like our young guys a lot,” Holliday said recently. “I don’t think there’s
going to be a dropoff at all.”
Jarquez Samuel, Steve Dillon and Ricardo Williams were 2015 Herd seniors
who played two spots, and their loss would seem to be significant. So, what
does Marshall defensive tackles coach J.C. Price think of his boss’ remarks?
“That’s a strong statement, really strong,” Price said, smiling. “You lose
three seniors, two of whom played a lot of football for you, and you replace
them with guys who were backups. I know one thing – we like these guys’
toughness and their potential, but that’s still a strong statement.”
Last season, starters Samuel and Dillon and top backup Williams combined to play
1,505 snaps, with 100 tackles, 13 for loss and four sacks. They owned 46 career starts.
The top three in the Herd’s current spring practice – Nyquan Harris, Tomell One and Jason
Smith – compiled 40 tackles, 5 TFLs and two sacks. None has made a collegiate start.
“We’ll still use a rotation as we have in the past. I feel really good about
those top three – Tomell, Nyquan and Jason – right now (halfway through
spring practice, last week). They all still have things they need to continue to
improve on, but we’re feeling good about them.”
Harris was the No. 4 inside lineman last season. The 6-foot-2, 309-pound
redshirt sophomore impressed when the 6-4, 290-pound One was hounded by
injury after a solid true freshman season in 2014. Smith, a 6-3, 291-pounder,
played only 146 snaps as a redshirt freshman last season.
Holliday likes what’s flanking those tackles, too.
“Our ends are back intact, with Gary (Thompson) and (Ryan) Bee playing
so well, and Blake Keller there, too,” the Herd coach said. “And we’ve got
young guys at end in (Ty) Tyler and (Damien) Dozier, guys we like a lot,
and they’ll continue to grow.
“That gave us the ability to move Joe Massaquoi inside from end to tackle and
get some depth there. We really liked Tomell as a freshman. He did not play as
well last year as we thought he would, but with Nyquan and Jason Smith and
One, we have three young guys we really like, and Malik Thompson is back in
there after having labrum surgery. He’s able to play now, too.”
And there’s another change at tackle for the Herd this spring, too. Instead of
playing as a nose (Samuel) and a tackle (3-technique position, Dillon), Price said
Marshall is simply going with left and right tackles – and interchangeable parts.
Asked if he’d call Harris, One and Smith a “big three,” Price said, “You said
that, not me … They are big in size.”
“We’re playing left and right now, at least this spring,” said Price, in his fifth
season on Holliday’s staff. “ We felt like we had a lot of the same body types
this year as opposed to what we’ve had in the past, so we’re going through
this spring playing left and right and we’ll see how that holds up.
“Nyquan was a guy who really came on last season with the absence of
Tomell (elbow and ankle injuries) in the lineup,” Price said. “He got a chance
to play more and more as the season went on and by middle of season we
were counting on him as one of those top four guys.
“It will be something we’ll probably revisit during the summer, see if we like
it or not. Right now, the personnel is interchangeable, two positions, and we
need to get four to five guys to fill those positions and go.
The trio averages 297 pounds, 16 more than the 2015 “top three” average weight.
See PRICE, Page 26
9
HerdInsider.com
Pearson’s deep resume resonates with Herd backs
By JACK BOGACZYK
but that is a goal for me, to be a head coach.”
Herd Insider Editor
It’s a busy few months for Pepe (pronounced PEP-ay) Lepedro Pearson. He
not only moved into a new job, but the father of three – daughter Mychal,
18; sons London, 17, and Roman 12 — is getting married June 25 to fiancee
Semoine Hudson. First, he’s trying to sell himself and his philosophies to Herd
running backs this month in spring practice.
HUNTINGTON — In his high school, college and pro football career, Pepe
Pearson rushed for nearly 5 miles.
He starred at Euclid High in suburban Cleveland – 4,447 yards, 43
touchdowns – then gained 3,076 yards as a four-season starter (1994-97)
at Ohio State, where he was a team MVP, won a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl,
gained a degree in sociology and also played in the Citrus and Sugar bowls
for teams that went a combined 41-10.
He bounced around multiple NFL camps and NFL practice squads, and
helped the Rhein Fire win an NFL Europe title in the 2000 World Bowl in his
two overseas seasons that included 1,083 rushing yards.
After four years as a pro, he’s coached high school, college and indoor pro
football. He’s been a head coach and an assistant, even a general manager
for one indoor team. And in 10 years as a college assistant coach at Ohio
Dominican and last season at Youngstown State, Pearson’s backs have
included four 1,000-yard rushers and a Harlon Hill Trophy semifinalist.
That brought Pearson to Marshall as the new running backs coach two
months ago. His connection was Herd tight ends coach Todd Goebbel, with
whom Pearson coached for five seasons at Dominican.
So, Pearson has been there, done that … but the 40-year-old coach by no
means has accomplished what he wants.
“I guess in the profession – especially when you’re at the lower levels –
you’re always looking to see if there’s a spot open,” Pearson said. “In this
case, I was contacted … ‘We know you just got to Youngstown last year, but
would you be interested to come see what this is all about.’ I said, ‘Sure.’
“Obviously, I wasn’t my running backs to be prepared mentally, because
a lot of what football is is the preparation and mental part,” Pearson replied
when asked about his approach to coaching the position.
“I do want my guys to have a certain toughness in regards to their
mentality, really in everything they do. “They need toughness and need to be
leaders in the best group in the country. I always say, ‘Don’t strive to be the
best at Marshall. We want to be the best group collectively in the country.’
And we’re in a venue where we can make that happen. All we have to do is
put our heads down and work hard, concentrate. That’s pretty much what I
preach, the big points.”
He isn’t trying to wow Herd backs with his own history that is deep and
varied in the game, but it does make his selling points subliminally stronger.
“I think that plays into it a lot,” Pearson said when asked if his Buckeyes’
and pro resume aid his push for what he wants. “And I don’t really talk about
my history to them. They end up asking some, and I think it does speak
to them because they do know their coach has played at the highest level
of college football and has some NFL experiences as well. So, I’ve made it
to where they want to go and they do show a level of respect in regards to
listening to what I have to say and respecting what I have to say.
“Obviously, I have aspirations of moving up to a certain level, so Marshall was
one of those things I wanted toc heck out, and it ended up being a good fit.”
“Between the NFL and NFL Europe, I was there four years – not a long, long
career but for a running back, it’s OK. And it’s about the average. I wasn’t
a superstar, but again I was there and I got a chance to be coached by pro
coaches and play in professional games, etc.
Herd Coach Doc Holliday, approaching his seventh season, has built
a reputation for not only his recruiting acumen, but also his ability to
make good staff hires. And he’s had more than a few assistants leave
for power conference staffs.
“So, I feel like I have all of that background and knowledge as far as
coaching the high school level, collegiate level, pro level, and playing at the
high school, collegiate and NFL level. All of that experience, I can give back to
them. That’s what I get excited about.”
Pearson had heard that, but the native Ohioan’s decision was rooted elsewhere.
“Really, it was not based on that,” Pearson said. “Coming into it, I didn’t
look at it that way. I looked at it as a great opportunity to go a storied
program, one with history, with tradition, and obviously is a step up from
Youngstown State, per se.
“That’s as far as I looked at it. My whole vision is to – yes, I want to get to
a certain level, but I consider myself a hard worker, so I looked at it as great
opportunity and work hard and hey, the sky’s the limit. Do my job and focus
on what I need to do, that’s my perspective right now.
“All of us would love to be at a Power 5 school. We all know about the bigger
schools, etc. I’d love someday to coach my alma mater, Ohio State, and then
from there, I also have aspirations of being a head coach down the line.
“That is a real goal of mine. A lot of times, I don’t really say those things,
Until Pearson came from Youngstown to campus to be interviewed by
Holliday and offensive coordinator Bill Legg, his knowledge of Marshall had
the same roots as many others in the nation.
“I had never been here,” Pearson said. “The closest I had ever gotten to
Marshall was seeing the (We Are Marshal) movie, to be honest. But watching
the movie and stuff, it makes you understand that unfortunately that tragedy
happened, but there is a rich history here.
“There is a tradition here and those are the things I kind of get excited about
in regards to college football in general. There are different traditions all over
See PEARSON, Page 26
10
The Herd Insider Magazine
Green-White Game is Quarterback Club’s ‘baby’
HUNTINGTON — Marshall’s football team continues intense work during
spring practices, but that will end soon as the 15th and final spring workout is
also the annual Green-White Game.
George said that – thanks to
a supportive fan base – the
club’s growth isn’t slowing.
That game is scheduled to take place at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on
Saturday, April 30 at 3:30 p.m.
“When it comes to the spring
game, 99 percent of the
sponsors always say ‘Yes’ to
supporting us and we sold out
last year’s Reverse Raffle and
Membership Party,” George
said. “Those are the same folks
who have supported this club
for over 25 years.”
Tickets for the spring game cost $5 each and West Lot parking passes are
also on sale for $20. They’re available through HerdZone.com or by calling
1-800-The-Herd.
Herd fans may not realize that the game isn’t only a “dress rehearsal” for
the 2016 team, but it’s also a major fundraiser for the football program.
The MU Quarterback Club makes half of its annual budget from spring game
ticket, sponsorship and program ad sales. The other major club fundraiser is
its annual Reverse Raffle/Membership Party, held each August, just prior to
the start of the football season.
Most of the dollars generated by both events are placed back into
the football program.
The Quarterback Club allows Marshall’s cheerleaders to sell programs at the
game and those sales dollars are kept by the cheerleaders.
Mark George has been president of the Quarterback Club for over 20 years
and he said there is also fan-focused reason to attend the Spring Game.
“Yes, it’s a fundraiser, but it’s also crucial for our fans to get back into
football mode,” George said. “It will be fun to see what our 2016 team looks
like and to get a feel for our new players.”
George said he and other Quarterback Club members begin work in January
on securing game and program ad sponsors for the spring game and that
work continues throughout the winter. Advance ticket and West Lot parking
sales add dollars to the club’s coffers.
The actual management of the game is handled by Marshall athletic
department personnel, much as would take place during the regular
season each fall.
In the past, Quarterback Club members handled the entire spring game
operation themselves, but that changed in 2006 when a record crowd of over
17,000 showed up for the spring game, the same time as local filming was
wrapping up for the movie “We Are Marshall”.
“We learned quickly that day that we aren’t game operations
people,” George said. “We’ve gladly turned those duties back over to
the athletic department.”
In the past, Quarterback Club funds were used to aid specific equipment
or material needs in the football program, but George says that use of those
donated funds has changed in recent years.
“Our dollars go to any additional expenses within football,” George said.
“Coach (Doc) Holliday and (Athletic Director) Mike Hamrick ultimately
determine where those dollars go, but those funds all go to football.”
The Quarterback Club got its start nearly three decades ago when
Marshall football was starting to experience some on-field success and
By now, most of the budgeted
Green-White Game revenue has
been earned, but George said that the final ingredient is a sunny spring day
that encourages Herd football fans to walk-up and buy last-minute tickets.
“It’s now up the fans,” George said. “We just hope to make it a fun,
fan-friendly event.”
Herd Insider columnist and longtime Tri-State Area radio voice Bill
Cornwell, of Kenova, does the public address announcing for Marshall
football and other Herd sports and is a contributor to “Julie Reeves Live!”
weekday mornings on 93.7 The Dawg.
11
HerdInsider.com
Hancock building a name at linebacker
By JACK BOGACZYK
Herd Insider Editor
HUNTINGTON — When Christian Isaiah “Chase” Hancock graduated from
Beckley’s Woodrow Wilson High School in 2014, he had a name.
That’s what being an All-State second team safety and running back
in football and a starter on a Class AAA basketball State Tournament
finalist will get you.
Not long after graduation, Hancock arrived in Marshall’s football program as
a walk-on. Less than two years later, Chase Hancock has earned a scholarship
and began the Herd’s 2016 spring practice No. 1 at Sam (strongside)
linebacker, pointed toward his redshirt sophomore season.
“No, sir, I didn’t expect to be where I am now when I came in here,”
Hancock said following a Herd practice earlier this week. “When I got
here, I just wanted to go hard on the scout team, on special teams. When
you first get here, you’re a nobody, a no-name. You’ve got to make a new
name for yourself.
“And I just came in with a mindset to go hard and start from scratch. The
coaches started to notice me and I got a whole lot of encouragement from
other players, the older guys like D.J. Hunter, Evan McKelvey … You know,
‘Keep going hard … You’re going to be special one day … You’re going to play
one day.’ And it’s come to pass.”
Not all walk-ons land scholarships, especially after only one season on
the field. Hancock was rewarded in mid-January, about three weeks after
the Herd’s St. Petersburg Bowl win, after he returned to school for the
current spring semester.
“Really, I didn’t expect it,” Hancock said of the grant-in-aid. “I hoped for it.
I just kept working and praying about it and it was the same – just go hard
every day. I never knew it was going to come or if it would come.
“And it came one day. Coach (Doc) Holliday was in the weight room and
I went to the weight room and he said, ‘Hey, come here.’ And he said, ‘I’m
going to put you on scholarship.’ It was great. It just felt like a weight was
lifted from my shoulders.”
The erstwhile walk-on is the same player this spring that earned that
scholarship. On April 9, he was awarded one of the WWE-style title belts Herd
coaches are presenting for a week’s performance this spring. Hancock got his
as Special Teams Player of the Week.
He hit a daily double, too. He also was presented a pair of symbolic gold
shoes for his week’s success in weight room agility drills among players
under 250 pounds.
One person not surprised is the Herd’s linebackers coach, Adam Fuller,
who recounted some history.
“This is the story,” Fuller said. “Beckley High School is a tremendous feeder
program for our place and that’s my recruiting area of West Virginia. So, I
just went there, heard about Chase, didn’t know him.
“He seemed like a good kid, was a really good basketball player,
played safety, had a good high school tape, but you just didn’t know.
You know what I mean? However, he’d be a great walk-on – an in-state
guy with a skill set.
“So we bring him in and we start camp and he’s playing safety. And
we had a day in camp during the first week where we had three or four
safeties go down. Next thing you know, Chase is in the second group
in camp on a double. And he’s just so physical, and he wasn’t stepping
away from any moment. You could tell it wasn’t too big for him. And he
showed a skill.
“So, camp ends, and he went to scout team, redshirted, and I tried to get
to know him. And when the season ended, it was just a good transition to
linebacker for him. We always try to move guys down (toward the line of
scrimmage) – guys who can run and have a frame. So, we move him down
last year, and from Day 1 that’s when you started to see his skill set was
really good at that position.”
Hancock didn’t get to show it much, however, on defense, because he was
playing behind Hunter, a 40-game career starter who moved from linebacker
to safety and back during his Herd career that ended last season.
While Hancock was a regular on special teams, he got only 83 snaps on
defense for the 2015 Herd. This spring, with Marshall having lost McKelvey –
the 2015 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year – and Hunter, Hancock
is in the front-line mix.
Hancock also was named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll this week
among league student-athletes with a cumulative 3.0 GPA.
“It’s just about going hard,” the 20-year-old linebacker said when asked
about impressing coaches, with belt-winning efforts and more. “They’re
going to notice you then. Whatever you have to do for the team, just be
about the team.
“I mean, I didn’t play much last year. I played a lot of special teams. That
was fine with me. As long as I can contribute to the team, help the team
in any way, I’ll do that. I was holding the water bottle for D.J., or Evan
McKelvey. I was right there – ‘Hey, man, you need something to drink?’ And I
was fine with that.
“We don’t need anybody to be selfish here.”
It was just about a year ago when folks who seriously follow Marshall
football really began to take notice of what the coaches already had
seen. In a scrimmage a year ago this weekend, Hancock had seven
tackles, an interception and a pass breakup. He’d had two picks in
an earlier scrimmage. In the spring game last year, he returned an
interception for a touchdown.
“Last spring, Chase ended up with the ball more than some of our
offensive players,” Fuller said, grinning. “It could have been a credit to
some missed throws, but you know what? If you’re around the football,
See HANCOCK, Page 27
12
The Herd Insider Magazine
Lagodich shooting for ‘next’ Greenbrier chance
By JACK BOGACZYK
row maybe even turn into a bad tournament.”
Herd Insider Editor
The “new” Lagodich was on display in the Furman Intercollegiate in late
March. He opened with a field-leading 67, then ballooned to 77 before posting
a finishing 70 for a 2-under-214.
HUNTINGTON — Logan Lagodich teed it up one final time last week on Marshall’s
regular-season men’s golf schedule at The Greenbrier Collegiate Invitational.
If he had his druthers, however, the tournament the Herd senior really
wants to play on the Old White TPC is the Greenbrier Classic, the resort’s
July PGA Tour stop.
Lagodich, from Canton, Ohio, is on track to graduate in December. Then, he
plans to head west, seeking a jumping-off point toward a pro golf career with
the Tour as a goal.
“I’m thinking Arizona right now, and the last couple of weeks I’ve been
trying to get some plans in order,” Lagodich said. “I’m looking to go out there,
play some mini-tour events and see where that takes me – great place,
weather is perfect and I think that gives me the best opportunity for success.
“I’ve thought about pro golf since I was 10. My dad, Mike Lagodich, played
some low-level professional golf and I think it all stemmed from wanting to
be like Dad. And I just immersed myself in the PGA Tour, followed all of the
tournaments every week on TV, just fell in love with that atmosphere.”
At Marshall, Lagodich, 21, has endured more than right hip surgery in July 2014,
between his sophomore and junior seasons. Herd Coach Matt Grobe and Lagodich
agreed the biggest obstacle the player has overcome is in his mental game.
“When Logan first came to Marshall, he already had a really good plan,” said
Grobe, whose team closes the season in the Conference USA Championships next
week in Texarkana, Ark. “He was doing all the things, nutritionally, physically and
the golf game was pretty good. The one thing I think he really lacked a little bit was
kind of letting the bad things that can happen in a golf round go.
“I think what we’re seeing now … if you go back to when he was a
freshman, a bad hole kept him down a lot longer, led to 4-5 bad holes in a
Asked what the freshman Lagodich might have scored in Round 3 after that
10-shot dropoff, Lagodich smiled.
“The freshman Logan might have been good for 87,” he said. “It’s hard
telling. But I shot a 70 and even left a few out there, so I was a little bummed
out about that. But it’s nice to see progress each tournament this semester.”
Lagodich said he’s played mind games about his mental approach
throughout a Herd career that includes a pair of individual victories – at Old
Dominion in 2013 and at Western Carolina last season.
“I think about this a lot,” he said. “I think coming in my freshman year
maybe I had a lot of expectations and then I performed poorly for whatever
reason – a freshman, everything is new to you – and I really got negative. I
call it rock bottom for me.
“I was angry after every shot, even good shots. If they weren’t perfect, but
still good, it wasn’t good enough. I learned a lot from that and every year
I’ve seen improvement on that – the ability to recover from a bad shot, stay
positive. And now I’m at the point where that’s definitely behind me, but I
think I needed that freshman year of failure to get to that point.
“I remember the second semester of my freshman year (2012-13) I noticed
there was a problem, I started working on it and saw improvement each
tournament. I still didn’t play well even in spring, but it was better. I took
that into the summer, had a good summer, continued that into the fall of my
See LAGODICH, Page 28
13
HerdInsider.com
Pulfer, Herd drowning old records in pool
By JACK BOGACZYK
Herd Insider Editor
HUNTINGTON — Madi Pulfer has had an exceptional two seasons on
Marshall’s swimming and diving team.
That isn’t to say, however, that Pulfer is an exception among the
waterworldly Herd.
Pulfer, of Ottawa, Ontario, just returned to the MU campus this week from
the Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto, where she competed in the 400- and
800-meter freestyle events and the 200 backstroke.
It was her second Canadian Trials in the 200 back, the first coming
when she was 15.
It’s just another accomplishment for a Herd program finishing its fourth
year under Coach Bill Tramel, whose team has been wrecking records in
the last two seasons.
Marshall competes in 22 swimming and diving events in the NCAA Division I
and Conference USA seasons. Of those 22, the Herd has set school records in
19 over the past two seasons. Twelve of those marks were set in 2015-16.
And while Pulfer owns a team-high three individual school records
(500- and 1,000-yard freestyles and the 200 back) over her two
seasons, teammates Gloriya Mavrova, Chloe Parsemain and Caroline
Wanner swam to two Herd marks this season alone, while Megan Wolons
set a pair of standards in diving.
The future is bright, too, for Tramel’s “United Nations team,” which includes
natives of Canada, Germany, Israel, France and Bulgaria, and just added a
signee native to Italy. There also are 10 states represented on the roster …
and only one senior exits the buoyant program.
“The program is way better than I thought it would be when I came
in (August 2014),” Pulfer said. “When I signed, we were last in the
conference. The time I came in with in the 200 back, it would have won
the conference that year … I dropped 2½ seconds on my time and came in
fifth in conference my first year. And we had another girl just behind me
and another just behind her.
“And Caroline came in this year and swam a 2-minute 200 back. So many
more girls have risen to that level. When I came in, I would have had the 100
back record, the 200 back record. Now, I don’t have the 100. Chloe has it.
There are so many girls on this team who have gotten so much better. It’s a
lot better than I thought it would be.”
The Herd finished third in the C-USA Championships in February, with a
school-record 12 medals (top three finishers). That was nine more than last
year. And the only school marks that haven’t been reset in the past two
winters are in the 200 butterfly, 100 breaststroke and 1-meter diving.
The 5-foot-7 Pulfer, one of nine sophomores in the program, is part of what
has proven to be a very strong recruiting class.
“I guess the team is the biggest difference from before,” Pulfer said. “If you
look at it now versus the team maybe four years ago, obviously the coach is
different. And I think when Bill came in he had a really strong vision for the
team and I think with that he brought in girls who had such a strong desire to
get better and to fight and to win.
“I look around at practice and every single girl wants to be there; every
single girl wants to work hard, to improve. And I think the atmosphere
on the team wasn’t the same as now, even from when I came in (fall of
2014). You could see the team struggling. Just from my senior year of
high school to the end of my freshman year, there was such improvement
because everyone was so motivated.”
Pulfer’s own improvement since her arrival at Marshall is shown in her
times. She’s cut 16 seconds from her 500 free time and 21 seconds in the
1,000. In the 1,650, her leap is 1:18. Her 200 backstroke school record of
1:59.99 was set in 2014-15 and is down from 2:01.44.
“She didn’t swim the 200 back this year, so she didn’t get to realize
improvement this year that she would have,” Tramel said.
“I’d like to think it’s the 200 back,” Pulfer said, smiling, when asked her
thoughts on her best event. “I’ve been a backstroker since I was 8 years old.
I think the 500 and 1,000 (freestyles) were something Bill had to pull out of
me. Those weren’t something I came here expecting to swim, but I mean,
realistically, the 500 is probably my event now.”
The kind of commitment Tramel appreciates and wants from his team
was displayed by Pulfer in preparing for her nation’s Olympic Trials. After
qualifying in the two freestyle events in a long course meet in Nashville,
Tenn., the week after the C-USA Championships (Feb. 24-27), MU’s spring
break occurred in late March.
Pulfer was vacationing in San Diego with her parents and two of her Herd
teammates, Nele Albers and Shir Wasserman. However, Pulfer needed to
continue training for the April 5-9 Olympic Trials.
“Oh, definitely, it was difficult,” she said, “especially when you only have
two people showing up to our pool here (before the break), and some days it
was just me. And then in California I had to take time out of every day and
get to the pool to practice.
“It’s definitely hard to keep that motivation when you don’t have your whole
team there doing it for you and no one is telling you that you have to show
up. The level of self-motivation it required was definitely a challenge.”
Pulfer was a standout for her club team, the Greater Ottawa Kingfish,
and was on Tramel’s radar as part of that large recruiting class. And
while the swimmer was interested in leaving home, the Herd wasn’t
originally in her thoughts.
“I always knew I wanted to come and swim in the States; it’s been my
goal since I was 10,” Pulfer said. “In recruiting, I got on a lot of (school)
websites and it was talking to a lot of different coaches, all over the country –
California, Arizona, Florida.
See PULFER, Page 27
14
The Herd Insider Magazine
HerdInsider.com
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The Herd Insider Magazine
A ho
fina
HerdInsider.com
17
ome
ale
Marshall junior Derya Turhan made her last home matches at the Brian David Fox Tennis Center on
campus successful ones last Saturday, as she helped the Herd to a 5-2 upset of Old Dominion. She
won her singles and doubles matches, teaming in the latter with Anna Pomyatinskaya. Turhan, of
Bad Salzuflen, Germany, plays No. 1 singles and doubles for Coach John Mercer’s team, and leads
the Herd into the Conference USA Tournament that opens Thursday in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Turhan is
14-3 in singles play this season and is graduating from MU next month, finishing her course work in
only three years
Photo by Rick Haye
18
The Herd Insider Magazine
Reminding no one of greats Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax or Randy
Johnson, Herd women’s basketball Coach Matt Daniel had the honor
of throwing out one of the first pitches at the West Virginia-Marshall
baseball game at Appalachian Power Park
Photo by Falecia Collier
Herd catcher Reynaldo Pastrana prepares to grab a foul pop in the Herd’s
Appalachian Power Park loss to West Virginia earlier this month
Photo by Falecia Collier
HerdInsider.com
19
Senior DJ Gee, bunting here in the loss to WVU in Charleston on April 5, has
provided plenty of versatility for Coach Jeff Waggoner’s Herd, playing second
base and left field. He’s also one of the team leaders in stolen bases
Photo by Falecia Collier
Junior college transfer Burris Warner is on pace to break the Herd
record for single-season saves (Steve Cotton’s column, Page 7)
Photo by Rick Haye
20
The Herd Insider Magazine
Sophomore Marija Bogicevic plays No. 5 singles for the Herd, as it heads into Conference USA Tournament play this week in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Photo by Rick Haye
HerdInsider.com
21
Junior Anna Pomyatinskaya won her No. 4 singles match against Old
dominion on Saturday and teamed with Derya Turhan for another
victory at No. 1 doubles
Photo by Rick Haye
Herd junior Rachael Morales posted a pair of wins Saturday in a
5-2 win over Old Dominion at the Fox Tennis Center on campus
Photo by Rick Haye
22
Marshall linebackers coach Adam Fuller has plenty of new names at
the position, including redshirt sophomores Chase Hancock (37) and
Frankie Hernandez (35)
Photo by Braxton Crisp
The Herd Insider Magazine
HerdInsider.com
Junior college transfer linebacker Davon Durant (36) was impressive in
the Herd’s first controlled scrimmage of spring practice last Saturday
Photo by Braxton Crisp
23
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The Herd Insider Magazine
Herd defensive tackles coach J.C. Price (left) likes his top replacements for three 2015 seniors, a group including rising junior Tomell One (95) and
sophomore Jason Smith (98)
Photo by Braxton Crisp
HerdInsider.com
BOGACZYK
From Page 5
(62). All three played in top-four RPI conferences.
On Selection Monday, here’s how those three looked:
*Tulane was 34-23 with an AAC regular season of 13-11 (third-place tie),
then went 1-2 in the league tournament. The AAC got three at-large bids into
the NCAA field. The Green Wave’s selection-day No. 43 RPI was against an
SOS of 41.
*Clemson was 32-27, with an ACC mark of 16-13. The Tigers went 1-2 in
the ACC tourney … and it was generally regarded that the Tigers earned their
bid with a three-game road sweep of Florida State – a No. 1 NCAA regional
seed – in the final regular-season weekend. On Selection Monday, Clemson
had an RPI of 56 and SOS of 18.
*Oregon went 38-23 in the regular season and was the last team to make
the NCAA field. The Pac-12 does not play a baseball tournament, but the
Ducks impressed by winning their final five Pac-12 weekend series. Oregon
was the sixth of six Pac-12 teams in the NCAA bracket and had an SOS of 92.
BOSSI
From Page 6
25
Coach Donnelly saw me play in Memphis and got me
here on a visit a few days later. I committed on my
visit … Yes, it was late. I probably signed in late June.”
Bossi’s goal for the season was pretty much the same as his Herd
teammates – reaching the eight-team Conference USA Tournament. Marshall
hasn’t been in the field since 2010. Waggoner feels if the Herd (17-13) can
finish strong, it might even be able to land an elusive NCAA regional berth
because C-USA is ranked in the top four in conference RPI.
Marshall has only reached the NCAA under Cook, in 1973 and ’78.
“The biggest thing now is that it’s fun, going to the field every day,” Bossi
said. “Guys are expecting to win this year – not to say it wasn’t like that the
last few years, but this year we know we have the makeup of a great team,
top-to-bottom, and the team is just oozing confidence.
“Yeah, we stumbled (in Tuesday’s extra-inning loss to West Virginia) but
I think that’s going to help the transition for how we’re going to play this
weekend in Texas. We’ve got the right mindset. Personally, I just wanted to
make the tournament this year, just feel what it’s like one time at least.”
Only two teams inside the RPI top 40 failed to make the NCAA field, and
both were from the ACC – No. 28 North Carolina and No. 37 Georgia Tech.
Both had losing conference records.
The right handed-hitting Bossi took his usually aggressive mindset to the
plate last Sunday. Each of his four hits came on the second pitch of his atbats. All four went to left field. After a single in the first, triple down the line
in the second and homer in the fifth, he knew what he needed.
Three C-USA teams made the 2015 NCAA regional field – FIU as
tournament champ and FAU and Rice with at-large bids. Southern Miss felt it
had a chance, but the Golden Eagles’ decent-enough RPI of 53 was doomed
by a strength of schedule at No. 129.
“Honestly, I’d have been the person to run past (second base), I think, if
I had an easy double, trying to get a triple,” Bossi said, smiling. “But then,
yeah, for sure, when you’re up there, you know it. Once I had the home run,
I knew I was only a double away.
Does the 2016 Herd have a shot? Sure, even though Marshall doesn’t play
Rice (No. 22 RPI) this season – the Owls are the one C-USA team the Herd
misses. Still, after Florida Atlantic, which entered the Beckley series with an
RPI of 34, Marshall still has C-USA sets with other top 100 RPI teams – Old
Dominion (29 last weekend), WKU (77) and Middle Tennessee (89).
Among the non-leaguers, Wake was at 59 entering last weekend and
West Virginia at 93. Marshall cannot afford to fall to EKU or Ohio — both in
the RPI 200 – or go two-and-out in the C-USA Tournament in Hattiesburg,
Miss., from May 25-29.
Right now, Marshall would be considered an NCAA longshot, and
prospects aren’t helped by the recent loss of weekend starter and
senior JD Hammer, with a strained oblique. But the fact Waggs and
pressbox wags are even having the conversation about Herd baseball
success is saying something.
When there hasn’t bene a winnig season in more than two decades, why
not dream big?
After all, the only bigger news for the program than a C-USA Tournament
spot or NCAA reginoal trip would be an announcement of a construction start
for a Huntington/Herd ballpark by Mayor Steve Williams, right?
“Anybody’s going to think about it, if it’s possible and it’s happening, so it
was just trying to get a pitch up and hit it over someone’s head – and I did.
I just didn’t realize how rare it was until after the game and people were
talking about it.”
His line-drive double off the base of the Power Park wall made Herd
history … and also gave him his first four-hit game at MU. That brought
him to his last at-bat.
“I was trying to get five, and I was thinking, ‘It would be stupid if I had a
five-hit game when I never had a four-hit game, never more than three,’”
Bossi said. “When I came up the fifth time, the team was feeling good, we
were really up, so I wasn’t too upset about making an out.”
As for the future, Bossi has some thoughts that involve both a game he
loves and a path of study he has chosen.
“I’m in the MBA program, and it’s on pace for me to be able to continue
the program beyond this year baseball, which is good,” he said. “After that,
I haven’t decided yet because obviously just thinking about the season right
now and making the tournament. There still are a lot of things I have to
explore, and I’ll have to shop around for a job, for sure.
“But if I could get a job in baseball, that would be ideal because how am I
going to find something that I’ve been doing, that I love? … A front office job,
that would be cool. I think I’d be really good at that. I’ve got a really good
mind for stuff like that, and a business mind, too.”
26
PRICE
From Page 8
“His big thing was learning how to play hard, play
with strain as we preach, every down. He took a step
forward in that department. Nyquan came on. He
showed a little more playmaking ability than the other two did.
“Jason really was kind of the odd-man-out. He was the fifth or sixth guy all
year, depending on how Tomell was. Jason prepared well for the (St. Petersburg)
bowl, but we only played 50 snaps in the bowl game, and when you have three
seniors you’ve relied on heavily, the opportunity just isn’t there.”
The Herd Insider Magazine
PEARSON
From Page 9
the country, and I’m fortunate and glad I’m able to be a
part of this one and continue to help build this program
from the already high level it is now.”
In Hyleck Foster, Tony Pittman and Keion Davis, Pearson has plenty of
returning talent and versatility to work with in the backfield, where redshirt
freshman Delvin Weems and Ellis Cain are learning the ropes.
Massaquoi, a redshirt senior who already has graduated, was moved inside
this spring after backing up at end last season. He’s played 28 career games
with 57 tackles, but he’s learning a new position.
“What I’ve seen so far, the guys I have right now, in regards to those
(returning) three, they all have talent,” the new Herd assistant said. “I think
they’re talented enough, but what I’ve tried to work on is in regards to how to
get better. Collectively, they all need to pay attention to details a little bit more,
especially the younger guys because they don’t have that experience yet.
“We haven’t totally decided if Joe is going to stay there; it was kind of a
spur-of-the-moment thing,” Price said of the move. “We definitely had some
young athletic ends we wanted to make sure got reps in the spring (Dozier,
Tyler and Milan Lanier).
“What I’m trying to stress to them is you really have to focus on the details
because that’s what’s going to help you be more consistent over a long period
of time, over a complete season. You can’t do something right three times and
then screw it up three times.
“At times we felt like Joe lacked a little toughness. And to play inside, you
have no choice but to become tougher or you get exposed. So, this was a
much a deal for Joe’s development as anything. We kind of knew what Joe
gave us out there (at end) and it was time for Joe … Sometimes when you’re
an end and you lack playmaking ability, when you get a little closer to the
ball, you start making those plays.
“So, my message to them
is the guys that really make
it and the guys that really
become great are the guys
who can do the same thing
over and over again for a long
period of time. That’s the
definition of ‘consistency’ in
my mind, and that’s what you
need in football.”
“That’s what we kind of hope will happen with Joe. In his situation, he’s
a senior, and we respect that, but he’s got to do what Joe’s got to do. He
knows what he has to do to play. If he does those things, he’ll play. And
if he doesn’t, he’ll probably be the odd-man-out because we have some
talented guys who are a playing a little more consistently with the ‘strain’
than Joe does right now.”
So, if Harris was Price’s No. 4 in 2015, who’s in that role this spring?
“Right now, we don’t have a fourth,” Price said. “Malik Thompson was in the
mix last year until he hurt his shoulder and had labrum surgery, missed the
year. He’s in there. Joe’s in that group. We have (252-pound) Aaron Dopson,
a tough kid, walk-on (from Hagerstown, Md.). If he can get bigger, he can
figure in the mix. Then there’s Channing Hames (sitting out 2015-16 as an
academic non-qualifier). He’ll join us this summer.
“Out of those four, I’ve got to get two more in the mix.”
As spring practice heads into its eighth of 15 workouts Thursday, Price
feels strongly about One, Harris and Smith as the interior core of the
Herd defensive front.
“The thing they need is just improve their overall football IQs, so the game
slows down for them,” Price said. “They’re talented enough to make those
plays that those other three guys made in the past. It’s all the little things –
adjusting within plays to what the offense is doing, understanding what the
offense is doing to them, how they’re trying to attack them, what the blocking
schemes feel like without sometimes guessing.
“They just need to become more experienced, and the only way you
can get that is by playing. But the thing I really like about all three of
those guys is they’re tough guys. If anything, I think we’re physically
bigger than we’ve ever been inside, and we may be as tough as we’ve
been inside. And that’s good.”
For all of his success on
collegiate Saturdays and pro
Sundays in uniform, Pearson
said it’s what he learned other
days of the week that he
thinks is most crucial for the
Herd rushers to grasp.
“The biggest thing I picked
up that I think is so important
to playing running back is it
comes down to preparation,”
he said. “It’s the preparation
part – the things you do
before you even play a game,
taking care of your body,
really paying attention to film
study – those are the most
important things.
New Herd running backs coach Pepe
Pearson’s goal is to one day be a college
head coach
Photo by Braxton Crisp
“That’s because if you can be successful with the things you do before
playing a game – the work you really put in – then the game then becomes
easy. The mental and physical preparation really is it.”
Herd Insider Editor Jack Bogaczyk is a longtime member of the Football
Writers Association of America and has covered college football since 1970.
HerdInsider.com
HANCOCK
From Page 11
it’s usually a pretty good indicator. You get guys
who the ball just finds them – and that’s a good
knack to have.”
This spring, Fuller also has Hancock playing “in the box” at Will
(weakside) linebacker in nickel packages. That’s McKelvey’s former spot.
And at 6 feet 2, 207 pounds, Hancock’s frame is a lot like that of McKelvey,
another safety-turned-linebacker.
“I think he’s got the ability to be a box player because he can find the
football and he’s got real long arms, a knack to keep blocks off him,” Fuller
said. “I think he’s a plus-mover in there. But I think he’s got a good feel at
Sam and he could be out there as well, so we’ll see where everything falls.
It’s good to be able to play multiple spots.
“At safety, Chase was not a great mover. Anytime you can move a
player forward, for example, a linebacker to defensive end, he usually
moves well for a D-end. Move a safety to linebacker, he moves pretty
good for a linebacker.
“So, he’s a good mover where he is, and he was really conscientious,
but the biggest thing was he was really physical. He really had a knack
to move people back, and he could find the football. There’s been a lot of
development, too. Scott Sinclair, Luke Day (strength and conditioning chiefs
at Marshall) get a lot of credit, because he’s really developed, but the kid
deserves all of the credit.
“He’s got the will to be a good player and he’s got the skill set to be a good player.”
At Marshall, Hancock is following in the large Beckley footsteps of teammate
Clint Van Horn, plus names like Doug Legursky, Mike Guilliams, Matt Morris,
Ray Crisp and Bobby Pruett, among others. Hancock knew, however, that he
needed to make his own way.
“No,” he said. “I never had doubts I could do this. I always had a lot of
support back home. I had a lot of Division II offers and I passed them
up because this is a lifetime chance. And when I came here, I felt like
this was the place for me and I just went out, walked out on faith, and
went to work.”
He began last season as the only walk-on in the Herd two-deep, behind
Hunter. This season, Hancock figures for a major role in a rebuilding
linebacker corps after recent years of success by players like McKelvey,
Hunter, Neville Hewitt and Jermaine Holmes.
“As a walk-on, one thing is you have to make yourself seen,” Hancock said.
“Make them notice you. Take coaching. A couple practices I started making
a couple of picks and coaches were like, ‘Man, you’re making all these picks,’
and the players were talking about the interceptions.
“I just kind of brushed it off and kept on working hard. I just thank
God for it. For anybody who wants to come here, you can do it. I’m a
prime example. A lot of other guys were walk-ons when I came in. We
started off with about 15 walk-ons and there are only three or four of us
still here now.
“So, if you want it, you can do it.”
PULFER
From Page 13
27
“West
Virginia,
honestly, was not on my radar – I
won’t lie – when I first started.
Then I got a call from Bill and just
by his passion, his excitement
about the team and the program,
made me take a trip here. And
once I was here, I met the team
and it felt like home to me.
I loved the atmosphere, how
excited the whole campus was
about being at Marshall.”
As for wanting to swim collegiately
in the U.S. since she was age
10, Pulfer wasn’t sure how those
thoughts floated into her head.
Madi Pulfer
“I don’t exactly know why,” she
Courtesy Photo
said. “I think because the team I
was on (the Kingfish), that was kind
of what the girls graduating who were at the high level, they always came to
the States. And now, more and more swimmers are staying in Canada, but I
think for me, this was the best fit.
“It’s just a different level of intensity, a different level of team. Here,
it’s so exciting because every meet you go to, you go compete as a
team. That’s something we never had because club swimming was
so individual and here you’re so passionate about representing your
school. And that was exciting to me.”
Pulfer, 19, is a criminal justice major, and also is taking political science
as a minor. She has a 3.73 GPA, with a goal of law school after two more
years in the pool for the Herd, where her name appears a fourth time
on the records pages in the 800 free relay (7:20.49) with Albers, Kaley
Gregory and Savannah Ruedt.
“Madi is certainly a talented athlete,” Tramel said. “I think as she matures
as an athlete, she will enjoy more success.”
Pulfer’s 500 free mark is 4:49.19, and her 2015-16 record was in the 1,000
free, at 10:02.55. She also has MU career top-6 times in the 100, 200 and
1,650 freestyles and the 100 back.
Tramel said the Canadian swimmer and her teammates have tasted
success, and he wants Pulfer and the Herd to push forward.
“I think Madi, and really, our whole team are at a crossroads right now,”
the Marshall coach said. “We’ve accomplished an enormous number of feats
in the past four years. We have rewritten the record board. Our individual
improvement curve is one of the best in the country.
“We medaled in half the events contested at conference championships,
winning two of them. We are no longer the last-place team in the
conference. Now we must decide where we go from here. “Do we want to invest in what it takes to be Conference USA team
champions and become legendary? If so, we still have plenty of work to do.”
28
LAGODICH
From Page 12
The Herd Insider Magazine
sophomore year and eventually got my first win at
the end of that fall semester (ODU/Outer Banks).”
Grobe said he can see Lagodich on the PGA Tour down the road, as long as
the player continues to grasp that his emotions are a key to success.
“The shots Logan has in his game right now are incredible,” Grobe said. “He
can work the ball either way and he’s got a very high ball flight, so he can go
after some really tricky pins. He works his tail off on his short game right now.
“I really think the only thing he needs to continue to work on is the mental
game. It’s the toughest part of the game to get a hold of. He wants it so bad
and then one bad shot, it feels like it takes the air out of that dream a little
bit. So, that’s been the toughest thing he’s had to transition with and I think
it will be the toughest thing for the next level.
“He has all of the shots … probably one of the best ball strikers that we’ve
got here – if not the best. He’s got incredible short-game shots around the
green and he’s a really good putter. Everything he does is solid. The only
thing is, when you want something so bad, and then when something goes
wrong all of a sudden, it can feel like it’s a lot worse than it really is.
“For him, at the next level, it’s about continuing to refine that mental
approach to the fact that the next shot is the most important one, and we
can’t go back and change what already has happened.”
Lagodich said his purposefulness is rooted in more than shot-making. Grobe said
the Herd senior who played in the U.S. Amateur last summer brings a focus to the
game based on strength and conditioning and a commitment to good nutrition.
“I think it’s just about feeling good all the time, feeling really healthy all
of the time,” Lagodich said. “I talk to my friends and they eat some big Taco
Bell meal and they regret it a half-hour later. I guess it was nice for the few
minutes they had it in their mouths … I eat a lot of vegetables, lot of fish,
eggs, meat … Anything that grows from the earth is a pretty good rule.”
Lagodich is one of only six golfers in Herd history with multiple individual
titles, and the first to accomplish that feat since Jonathan Clark won four in
1995 and ’96. The Ohioan said if the Tour goal doesn’t work out, he’ll turn to
his MU exercise physiology degree.
“If I’m not playing for a living, I don’t think I want much to do in the golf
business,” he said. “I’d probably go into strength and conditioning, use my
degree. I’ve always been into human performance, and I’d be OK with that.”
In the fall semester as he finishes his class work, Lagodich will work as a
student assistant to Grobe.
“It went really fast,” Lagodich said of his college years. “All the adults –
when I was coming into college – told me it would go really fast, to enjoy it,
and they were right. I have enjoyed it, especially the last two years. After I
got through my first two years it didn’t hit me how fast this is going, so I did
kind of settle down and tried to enjoy the last two years.
“Going into these last tournaments, I guess you could say I have mixed
emotions, but overall, I’m pretty happy. Since I was 10, I’ve always been
driven toward professional golf. That’s been the goal on my mind all of the
time. So, I’m just about there and I’m ready to take the next step.
“The mental game is where I need to focus. You see these guys at the
top level and their confidence is through the roof and I’d say I have that at
points, but still struggle with … you know, everyone has their Achilles heel.
And I still struggle with getting down on myself, too hard on myself, I’d say.”
Grobe said because those moments are fewer and fewer for Lagodich, the
Herd senior has what it takes.
“Logan wants to start playing mini-tour and work his way up through Web.com
(the secondary tour) and try to get on the PGA Tour,” Grobe said. “The nutrition,
the working out, making sure physically he’s ready to go and all the hours he’s
put into practice – it’s all been directed toward reaching the PGA Tour.
“Marshall has been kind of that 4½ years to help him improve and be a
great college golfer and do all those things and get a college degree he can
fall back on if it doesn’t work out on the Tour. But he’s one of the most singleminded kids I’ve seen when it comes to that goal. He’s a kid on a mission and
he has been since the day he stepped on campus.”
29
HerdInsider.com
2015-16 Marshall Athletics team schedules
BASEBALL
DateOpponentSiteTime/Score
Feb. 19
at Florida A&M
Tallahassee, Fla.
L, 9-4
Feb. 20
at Florida A&M
Tallahassee, Fla.
L, 20-4
Feb. 21
at Florida A&M
Tallahassee, Fla.
W, 11-9 (12 inn.)
Feb. 26
Liberty
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
L, 9-8
Feb. 26
at Coastal Carolina
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
L, 9-3
Feb. 27
Liberty
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
L, 7-3
March 5
Lehigh
Kennedy Center
W, 4-2
March 6
Lehigh (DH)
Kennedy Center
W, 12-6, 6-4
March 9
Ohio
Kennedy Center
L, 4-1
March 11
Brown
Kennedy Center
W, 3-2 (17 inn.)
March 12
Brown (DH)
Kennedy Center
W, 7-2, 2-0
March 13
Brown
Kennedy Center
W, 14-0
March 15
Morehead State
Kennedy Center
W, 6-5 (12 inn.)
March 18
Southern Miss (DH) App Power Park
S, 4-14, 10-8
March 19
Southern Miss
App Power Park
L, 3-2
March 22
Eastern Kentucky
Kennedy Center
W, 5-4
March 24
at FIU
Miami
L, 10-5
March 25
at FIU
Miami
W, 6-5
March 26
at FIU
Miami
W, 13-0
March 30
at Morehead State
Morehead, Ky.
L, 13-0
April 1
Louisiana Tech
App Power Park
W, 7-4
April 2
Louisiana Tech
App Power Park
L, 10-6
April 3
Louisiana Tech
App Power Park
W, 10-4
April 5
West Virginia
App Power Park
L, 5-4
April 8
at UTSA
San Antonio
W, 8-3
April 9
at UTSA
San Antonio
L, 5-4
April 10
at UTSA
San Antonio
W, 5-2
April 15
Florida Atlantic
Epling Stadium
L, 6-3 (11 inn.)
April 16
Florida Atlantic
Epling Stadium
L, 10-2
April 17
Florida Atlantic
Epling Stadium
1 p.m.
April 19
Eastern Kentucky
Kennedy Center
3 p.m.
April 22
at Charlotte
Charlotte, N.C.
6 p.m.
April 23
at Charlotte
Charlotte, N.C.
2 p.m.
April 24
at Charlotte
Charlotte, N.C.
1 p.m.
April 26
at West Virginia
Morgantown, W.Va.
6 p.m.
April 29
at Middle Tennessee
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
7 p.m.
April 30
at Middle Tennessee
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
5 p.m.
May 1
at Middle Tennessee
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
2 p.m.
May 6
UAB
App Power Park
6 p.m.
May 7
UAB
App Power Park
2 p.m.
May 8
UAB
App Power Park
10 a.m.
May 10
at Ohio
Athens, Ohio
6 p.m.
May 13
at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky.
7 p.m.
May 14
at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky.
4 p.m.
May 15
May 17
May 19
May 20
May 21
May 25-29
at Western Kentucky
Wake Forest
Old Dominion
Old Dominion
Old Dominion
C-USA Tournament
Bowling Green, Ky.
Epling Stadium
App Power Park
App Power Park
App Power Park
Hattiesburg, Miss.
1 p.m.
6 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
—
MEN’S GOLF
DateTournamentSite/Finish
Feb. 29-March 1 Davidson Invitational
5th of 7 teams
March 11-13 Pinehurst Intercollegiate
3rd of 11 teams
March 25-27 Furman Intercollegiate
T-11 of 19 teams
April 11-12 Greenbrier Collegiate
5th of 17 teams
April 24-27 Conference USA Championship
Texarkana, Ark.
WOMEN’S GOLF
DateTournamentSite/Finish
Feb. 28-March 1 Kiawah Island Classic
18th of 41 teams
March 20-22 MSU Spring Citrus Classic
17th of 20 teams
March 25-27 Bearcats Spring Classic
8th of 17 teams
April 4-5
Hoya Invitational
6th of 10 teams
April 18-20 Conference USA Championship
Fort Myers, Fla.
SOFTBALL
DateOpponent/Tourney
SiteTime/Score
Trojan Invitational
Feb. 14
Alabama State
Troy, Ala.
W, 4-2 (8 inn.)
Feb. 14
at Troy
Troy, Ala.
W, 7-5 (8 inn.)
—
FGCU Invitational
Feb. 19
Long Island
Fort Myers, Fla.
W, 10-2 (6 inn.)
Feb. 19
Southern Illinois
Fort Myers, Fla.
L, 8-6
Feb. 20
Hofstra
Fort Myers, Fla.
W, 9-1 (6 inn.)
Feb. 20
Long Island
Fort Myers, Fla.
W, 4-2
Feb. 21
Saint Louis
Fort Myers, Fla.
W, 6-1
—
Easton Bama Bash
Feb. 26
Arizona
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
L, 7-6
Feb. 26
Tennessee
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
L, 5-1
Feb. 27
at Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
L, 4-2
Feb. 27
Tennessee
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
L, 18-0 (5 inn.)
Feb. 28
Arizona
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
L, 6-3
—
See SCHEDULES, Page 30
30
The Herd Insider Magazine
SCHEDULES
From Page 29
Camel Stampede
March 4
Appalachian State
Buies Creek, N.C.
March 4
Md. Eastern Shore
Buies Creek, N.C.
March 5
Loyola (Chicago)
Buies Creek, N.C.
March 5
Md. Eastern Shore
Buies Creek, N.C.
March 6
at Campbell
Buies Creek, N.C.
—
March 12
UTEP (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
March 13
UTEP
Dot Hicks Field
March 15
Toledo (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
March 16
Kentucky
Dot Hicks Field
March 19
at North Texas (DH)
Denton, Texas
March 20
at North Texas
Denton, Texas
March 22
Ohio (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
March 23
Radford (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
March 29
St. Francis (Pa.) (DH)Dot Hicks Field
April 2
at UAB (DH)
Birmingham, Ala.
April 3
at UAB
Birmingham, Ala.
April 6
at Wright State (DH) Dayton, Ohio
April 9
Charlotte (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
April 10
Charlotte Dot Hicks Field
April 12 at Liberty (DH)
Lynchburg, Va.
April 16
at Florida Atlantic (DH)Boca Raton, Fla.
April 17
at Florida Atlantic
Boca Raton, Fla.
April 23
Middle Tennessee (DH) Dot Hicks Field
April 24
Middle Tennessee
Dot Hicks Field
April 30
FIU (DH)
Dot Hicks Field
May 1
FIU
Dot Hicks Field
May 7
at Western Kentucky (DH) Bowling Green, Ky.
May 8
at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky.
May 12-14 C-USA Tournament
Denton, Texas
L, 4-3
W, 11-0 (5 inn.)
W, 2-1
W, 11-4
L, 4-3
W, 10-1, 5-1
W, 8-3
W, 5-3, 8-3
L, 1-0
S, 4-1, 1-7
W, 9-5
S, 8-0 (6), 0-7
S, 0-5, 8-3
S, 9-2, 0-4
S, 1-3, 4-3 (9)
L, 8-1
L, 13-5 (5), 5-2
L, 5-2, 3-0
L, 5-1
W, 10-5, 5-3
L, 9-1 (6), 8-0 (5)
Noon
1 p.m.
Noon
1 p.m.
Noon
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
—
TENNIS
DateEvent/OpponentSiteTime
Jan. 15-17 Nishan Vardebedian Invite
Pittsburgh
—
Jan. 22
Tulsa, at National Team Indoors Chapel Hill, N.C.
L, 4-0
Jan. 23
Yale (NTI)
Chapel Hill, N.C.
W, 4-3
Jan. 31
South Carolina
Charlottesville, Va.
L, 4-0
Feb. 5
Morehead State
Huntington TC
W, 7-0
Feb. 5RadfordHuntington TCW, 6-1
Feb. 12
at Louisville
Louisville, Ky.
W, 4-3
Feb. 14
at Miami (Ohio)
Oxford, Ohio
L, 4-3
Feb. 19
Virginia Tech
Huntington TC
L, 5-2
Feb. 21
RiceHuntington TCL, 4-3
Feb. 28
at Penn State
State College, Pa.
L, 6-1
March 4
FIU
Huntington TC
L, 4-3
March 6
Virginia Commonwealth
Huntington TC
L, 4-3
March 11
West Virginia
Brian David Fox TC W, 4-3
March 20
March 24
March 25
April 3
April 8
April 10
April 16
April 21-24
at William & Mary
at College of Charleston
Charlotte
at Winthrop
Cincinnati
Xavier
Old Dominion
Conference USA Tournament
Williamsburg, Va.
Charleston, S.C.
Charleston, S.C.
Rock Hill, S.C.
Huntington TC
Brian David Fox TC
Brian David Fox TC
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
W, forfeit
W, 4-3
W, 5-2
10 a.m.
W, 6-1
L, 4-3
W, 5-2
—
TRACK & FIELD
DateMeetSite
Outdoor season
March 18-19 Wake Forest Open
No team scores
March 25-26 UNF Invitational
No team scores
April 1-2
Pepsi Florida Relays
No team scores
April 2
Cherry Blossom Invitational
No team scores
April 9
Hilltopper Relays
No team scores
April 15-16 Beynon Catamount Classic
2nd of 14 teams
April 22-23 UVa Challenge
Charlottesville, Va.
April 28-30 Penn Relays
Philadelphia
May 6-7
Kentucky Relays
Lexington, Ky.
May 12-15 Conference USA Championships Murfreesboro, Tenn.
May 28-30 NCAA East Preliminaries
Jacksonville, Fla.
June 8-11
NCAA Championships
Eugene, Ore.
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