CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Marshall baseball coach Greg Beals liked much of what he saw from the Herd over a five-game win streak ahead of a matchup with No. 16 West Virginia at GoMart Ballpark.

For all the recent success, it still paled in comparison to what Beals witnessed Wednesday night from the Herd, which had two of its first three batters reach in the bottom of the ninth inning and then capitalized on a throwing error by Mountaineer third baseman Chase Swain that brought in AJ Havrilla for the winning run in a 7-6 victory before a standing-room only crowd of 9,649.

“What an unbelievable crowd here celebrating baseball in the state of West Virginia and in the in-state rivalry. That’s a really good baseball team West Virginia has, so that’s a big win for us,” Beals said. “Most important, relative to our club, six wins in a row and keeping that momentum going into conference play. We have a big series coming up this weekend [at Old Dominion]. Just really like how we fought and competed. Our pitching staff did a great job. We didn’t walk a guy. We had one [error] in the first inning, but other than that, played really good defense.”

With the game tied at 6 in the top of the seventh, WVU (37-6) was in prime position to go in front after what was originally ruled an out was overturned to a single for Kyle West, putting two runners on with no outs for No. 3 hitter Logan Sauve.

In came Herd (24-22) relief pitcher Charlie Krebs, who immediately induced a double play ball and then another ground ball from Sam White to keep the contest knotted at 6.

“In those situations, maybe we need to take a chance trying to steal a base and trying to avoid hitting into a double play, but Logan’s one of the best hitters on the team and he’s really carried us all season, so it’s an awesome situation,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “You’re kind of imagining this is the double that scores two that puts you ahead.”

Krebs retired all six batters he faced over the eighth and ninth innings, setting the stage for Marshall to win in walk-off fashion.

Against Mountaineer relief pitcher Chase Meyer, the Herd got a one-out walk from Havrilla, who moved into scoring position on Eddie Leon’s single and scored moments later as Swain’s throw to first sailed wide of Grant Hussey on a ground ball off the bat of Tyler Kamerer.

“When you lose games, especially if it’s Marshall, there’s going to be people that question decisions, point fingers, blame things on maybe one individual play and it’s a very easy play to blame when somebody throws the ball away and you lose a game, but there’s so many opportunities throughout nine innings where we could’ve played better and made that not count,” Sabins said. “It’s about sticking together. Swain’s been so good for us and he’s going to be right back in the lineup for us probably on Friday night. But those are hard on young guys. It’s a huge game, a rivalry game, so we just wrap our arms around him and get back to work on Friday.”

The Mountaineers gained the lead two batters into the game with Skylar King providing a leadoff single and scoring soon after on Kyle West’s double to center.

Marshall’s lone error allowed West to score for a 2-0 lead in the first, though Havrilla belted a home run to center in the home half of the first to bring MU back to within one run.

Havrilla’s homer came off Gavin Van Kempen, who made a rare midweek start and retired the other three batters he faced. Van Kempen was lifted for Mac Stiffler to start the second.

“He was throwing strikes and attacked the zone,” Sabins said. “He gave up a barrel which ended up being a home run, but he really did what we wanted him to do.” 

Sauve and White accounted for consecutive two-out doubles in the third to allow WVU to gain a 3-1 lead, but Stiffler encountered trouble in the fourth and surrendered three runs with two outs on a Cam Harthan double and Jackson Golden’s two-run home run to left.

“This is huge. To beat a ranked team this late in the season propels us and makes us even more comfortable,” Golden said.

The Mountaineers got even at 4 on West’s home run to left-center with two outs in the fifth, and WVU was back in front in the sixth after Grant Hussey singled in White. Later in the sixth, Brodie Kresser delivered a RBI on a ground ball to third that allowed Jace Rinehart to score for a 6-4 lead, but the advantage proved to be short-lived.

Joel Gardner was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the sixth, advanced to third on Harthan’s one-out double and Golden, a freshman, drove both in with a single.

“A big day for him and it’s great to see the freshman in this environment against that type of competition,” Beals said.

Harthan and Golden both had two hits and the Herd totaled seven.

Krebs earned the win with three scoreless innings that included one strikeout. He threw only 29 pitches and faced eight batters.

“We’re pitching and playing good defense and that needs to be a constant. Good baseball teams do that,” Beals said. “It’s unfortunate as good a game as it was that it ends on an error. We’ll certainly take it.”

Meyer, the last of seven WVU pitchers used, suffered the loss. 

West led all players with three hits, while King and White had two apiece in defeat.

“What an incredible environment for our guys to play in,” Sabins said. “The more often we can play in this kind of situation, the better off we’re going to be. It hits you pretty quick. You’re in the ninth inning and basically planning what’s your next pitch move and your next hit move, how are you going to win the game, and so if something happens where you lose the game, it kind of snaps you back to the game is over.”