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 If Marshall
baseball coach Dave Piepenbrink had known that a talk was all that was
needed to get shortstop Jason Ricceri out of his slump, the Omaha, Neb.,
junior's offensive struggles might have ended long ago.
But since that didn't happen, Marshall's 5-3 road win over UNC-Asheville April 5 was not a bad time for Ricceri's bat to come to life. But, the alarm clock didn't sound until the second game as the Thundering Herd (12-14 overall and 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference) fell to the Bulldogs 6-4 in the first contest. In the second game of the doubleheader, Marshall trailed 3-2 until the top of the seventh inning, when outfielder Marty Rini led off with a double to left centerfield. First baseman Jason Brooks and pinch-hitter Matt White followed Rini on base, after both were hit by pitches. With the bases loaded, third baseman Homer Renshaw hit a sacrifice fly to rightfield to tie the game at 3-all.
"The coach came up to me after the first game and was basically telling me what I had to do offensively," Ricceri said of his game-wining hit. "That was in my mind up at the plate and I just hit it into the gap in left centerfield." Piepenbrink said the pep talk was geared toward Ricceri's offensive showing. "He'd been struggling some," Piepenbrink said. "He wasn't struggling with defense, but with hitting, and I told him he needed to start playing better offensively. He just came up with a big hit at a big time." The win ended Marshall's four-game losing streak. Ricceri said he thinks the win will give the team a boost as it heads into conference action this weekend against Northern Illinois and Ball State.
Ricceri said good pitching and defensive efforts will factor in. "Pitching and defense will be the keys for us," he said. "We've been doing well offensively, so we need good pitching and defense. If we've got those two things, we'll win." Story by Michelle James
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Ricceri's wakeup
call came after pinch-hitter Ryan Kobbe popped out for the second out of
the inning. Then, with a 1-2 count, Ricceri nailed a changeup, hammering
it over the head of the leftfielder for two RBI's.
"It was a
huge win for us," he said. "Our confidence is built up going into the conference
games. It was a big boost and hopefully we can get some good wins."