February 6, 2017,  Baseball  No comments

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Marshall is coming off of their best baseball season in program history with 34 wins including 21 conference wins. The Herd finished in the top 5 of 17 different offensive categories including first in hits (315), RBIs (189), home runs (36), doubles (69), total bases (504) and stolen bases (50). Marshall is returning 14 players from last year headed by Tommy Lane: C-USA Newcomer of the Year.

Lane was a transfer from Mt. Hood Community College and had a breakout Junior Year. He was selected to all conference first team with a .296 batting average, team-high 48 RBIs, and a .402 on-base percentage. I got to talk with Lane and ask him a few questions.

He discussed his reasoning in coming to Marshall by saying “It’s good to feel wanted and I wanted to come and make an impact.” His expectations and main focus on the year: winning that conference title. When asked if he has made improvements on his game, he said yes and brought up a quote that his father used to tell him, “If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse.” Lane was very modest in his answers and mainly referred to his concerns for the team and wins rather than himself or stats.

Marshall was voted by 12 C-USA coaches to finish eighth this season. This comes as a shock after finishing second in 2016. Marshall was not even voted to have a single all conference player. I got to sit down with Marshall baseball coach Jeff Waggoner and interview him.

Coach seemed a little upset when asked about the ending to last season. To be fair, the Herd finished a half game away from winning the conference. Coach Wagonner was quoted in saying his expectations this year are “for the team to play as good as they can and to grow as the season goes on.” The 9th year coach did not buy much into being projected to finish 8th in the conference when the Herd was expected to finish dead last in 2016 and ended up finishing second. Wagonner explained that this year, although they lost 5 players due to draft, signing, or just graduating, that the team has gained new talent and developed new leaders coming into 2017. He ended the interview in saying that Marshall looks to start off strong against Georgia State on the 17th.