BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green got the best of the Thundering Herd in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader at Warren Steller Field with a 10-5 victory, but Marshall battled back for a one-run win over the Falcons in game two by a 3-2 final.

Marshall head coach Dave Piepenbrink sent the left-handed Fritz Conrad (Ocoee, Fla.) to the mound to start game two, and the sixth-year skipper received an excellent performance from the junior. Conrad (2-3) allowed only four hits and two runs in 7.2 innings for his second victory as a member of the Thundering Herd.

Marshall (16-26-1, 7-12 MAC) and Bowling Green (13-18, 6-9 MAC) both posted one run in the first inning and remained scoreless until the eighth, when the Herd added two more runs to the Falcons’ one for the 3-2 win.

Francois Larmore (Magnolia, N.J.) led the game off with a double to the left field wall and later scored on a Joe Glevenyak (West Palm Beach, Fla.) sharp single to second base for a 1-0 Herd lead. Bowling Green tied things up in its half of the first inning with a Kelly Hunt RBI single through the left side of the infield that scored David Barkholz.

Conrad was in cruise control from that point on, not allowing a hit from the fourth through seventh innings. The first-year transfer from Daytona Beach C.C. struck out three Falcons and retired BGSU in order in two different innings.

“I just tried to keep us in the ballgame by keeping the hitters guessing and allowing our defense to make plays,” Conrad said.

Two MU base runners crossed the plate in the top of the eighth inning for a 3-1 Herd advantage. Gregg Hiller (Greenville, Ohio) led off the frame with a single to left field, followed by a Larmore single through the right side. Mike Koitsopoulos (Markham, Ont.) singled in Hiller and Corie O’Bryan (Frederick, Md.) hit a RBI single of his own to the shortstop to score Larmore.

BGSU cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the eighth with Hunt’s school-record 179th RBI of his career, a double to left-center field that plated Nolan Reimold to cut the Herd lead to 3-2.

MU threatened to add to its one-run lead in the top of the ninth, but the Herd left its 14th and 15th runners on base with no further damage done.

Meadows, who relieved Conrad after Hunt’s double, was replaced by Steve Ziroli (LaGrange, Ill.) in the bottom of the ninth with a 1-2 count on pinch hitter Steve Raszka. Ziroli finished off Raszka and promptly sat the next two Falcons down to earn his second save of 2003.

In game one, Bowling Green jumped out to a 5-0 lead through two innings of play. Marshall starting pitcher Scott Henning (Wilmington, Del.) surrendered six hits in that span, including three RBI singles, coupled with three Herd throwing errors.

Roddy Stieger (Westchester, Ohio) and Josh McConnell (Phenix City, Ala.) scored in the top of the third inning after leading off the frame with back-to-back singles. Koitsopoulos walked to load the bases for O’Bryan, who dropped a single behind the BGSU first baseman to plate Stieger. McConnell and Koitsopoulos would score on a Glevenyak single through the left side to close the Falcon lead at 5-3.

With Bowling Green leading 6-3 and the Herd sitting down in order in the top of the fourth, Henning’s day ended in the bottom of the inning with men on first and second base and two outs after an intentional walk to Hunt. Andrew Davis (Charleston, W.Va.) stepped to the mound and forced an inning-ending groundout by Kevin Longstreth to end the Falcon threat.

Henning (1-3) allowed eight hits and four earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched.

Marshall continued to chip away at the Bowling Green lead in the fifth inning, adding a run to make it a 6-4 game. Glevenyak ripped a two-out RBI single to center field that scored Koitsopoulos.

Davis retired the Falcons in order in the fifth inning, and Marshall was able to add one more run in the top of the sixth when Larmore singled in Adam Frederick (Franklin, Pa.) for a 6-5 BGSU lead. A popped up sacrifice bunt attempt kept Stieger from scoring on the Larmore RBI single that would have potentially tied the game.

Larmore and Glevenyak combined to go 4-for-8 with four RBIs.

Bowling Green added four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game out of reach at 10-5. Tyler Wasserman supplied a two run single to right field to close out the BGSU scoring binge.

Wasserman finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs while David Barkholz went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

Marshall sat down in order in the top of the seventh inning on three groundouts to shortstop to end the seven-inning contest.

BGSU starter Keith Laughlin improved his record to 5-1 after a 4.2 inning, seven hit, three strikeout performance.

Marshall will attempt to win its first Mid-American Conference series since taking two-of-three from Buffalo in March of 2002. Piepenbrink currently stands at 99 career victories, tied with his former coach, Howard McCann, for second on the Marshall all-time wins list.

The final game of the four-game set will start at 1 p.m., with Ziroli (3-1) scheduled to face Bowling Green right-hander Tom Oestrike (1-1).