COLUMBUS, Ohio – Marshall rolled into Columbus and defeated 18th-ranked Ohio State, 14-3, Wednesday afternoon in front of a crowd of 595 at Bill Davis Stadium. The win was Marshall’s first over Ohio State in 16 tries and improved its record to 12-15 on the season. Ohio State, which rested several everyday starters, drops to 21-5.

The Thundering Herd, which had bussed nine hours the last two days with a back-and-forth trip Tuesday between Huntinton, W.Va., and Lexington, Ky., and a three-hour trip to Columbus Wednesday morning, was sharp throughout the game. The green jerseys stroked a season-high 21 hits against four Ohio State pitchers. Starting pitcher Mike Mason, a true freshman who had pitched just 6.1 innings for his career, lasted 5.0 innings, didn’t allow an earned run and gave up just three hits to a team that was leading the Big Ten Conference in both runs (9.56 per game) and hitting (.342 average and 12.8 hits per game). He improved to 1-0 with the win.

The Herd put three runs on the board in the second inning, four in the third and another three in the fourth to build a 10-0 lead before the Buckeyes even had two hits. Thor Meeks had a three-run home run in the third and Rhett Stafford a two-run single in the fourth to spark the Herd’s offense early on. A solo run in the fifth extended the lead to 11-0

Ohio State added a run in the fifth on Shawn Forsythe’s RBI single, but left three runners on base. Two more Ohio State runs in the sixth closed the lead to 11-3. Ben Toussant and Tyler Engle had RBI singles. Toussant and Engle each had two singles on the day, as did Ryan Dew, to lead the offense.

Marshall, which added two more runs in the eighth and another in the ninth, was led at the plate by Stafford with five hits and four RBI, Victor Gomez, who had three hits and three RBI and Meeks, who had a pair of hits and three RBI.

Theron Minium started for the Buckeyes, pitched 3.0 innings and took the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season.

A View From The Bill Davis Stadium Press Box:

• The game today marked the 1,500th game for Bob Todd as a head coach.
• The ABCA Hall of Fame coach is in his 26th season as a head coach, his 22nd at Ohio State and he is just 24 wins shy of reaching 1,000 for his career with a career mark of 976-522-2.
• Here are a few more Bob Todd numbers: he has been married to his lovely bride, Glenda, for 37 years; he has four grown children who are all college graduates; he has two daughters-in-law, five grandchildren and two more on the way; and two new knees.
• Sophomore Theron Minium made his first start since the 2007 season when he started five times and played in 13 games as a true freshman. The North Cumberland, Pa., native red-shirted the 2008 season and had appeared in four games for a total of 8.0 innings so far this year prior to his Wednesday start.
• It was nice to see Josh Barrera on the mound. The junior from Somerset, Ohio, was seeing his first action in two years after red-shirting in 2008.
• Barrera pitching to catcher Shawn Forsythe was a familiar sight four years ago. The two played high school baseball together at Sheridan H.S.
• Second-year freshman David Corna, from Cincinnati, had his first collegiate action, pinch-hitting in the eighth and then playing right field.   
• Second-year freshman pitcher Eric Shinn, from Pinehurst, N.C., also made his collegiate debut, coming in to pitch in the ninth inning.
• T.J. McManus’ ninth-inning single was the first collegiate hit for the Glenville, Ill., native.
• A little further research on the best 25-game starts for an Ohio State team (which the 2009 team shared with the 1991 team at 21-4): the second-best record after 25 games belongs to the Marty Karow-coached 1958 team (20-4-1). Two more Todd teams are tied for the fourth-best 25-game start. His 1994 and 2001 teams each opened 20-5 after 25.
• The team has 101 extra base hits already this season (51 doubles, 17 triples and 33 home runs). Looking at 26-game statistics over the last six years, the closest any team has come to the 2009 team’s power numbers is the 78 extra base hits by the 2006 team (55 doubles 15 triples and eight home runs). Next best is the 68 by the 2005 team (50 doubles, seven triples and 11 home runs). Bottom line: the 2009 team is, so far, smacking the tar off the ball. Go Baseball Bucks!
• All three Big Ten Conference games this weekend at Minnesota – Friday at 7:35 p.m. (EDT), Saturday at 3:05 p.m. and Sunday at (new time) 1:15 p.m. – will now be played in the Metrodome.  

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