Marshall baseball: Mindset shift key for Herd in home stretch of SBC season

“We hit the ball and did what we were supposed to do,� Marshall’s Maika Niu said. “Situational hitting — that’s been a big thing that we’ve been talking about. We got that done today.�

What were the words of wisdom?

“It was simple. Without sharing too much of what we did in the locker room, it was an idea, to be honest with you, of using the meaning of the holiday a little bit,� Beals said. “Sunday was Easter. The idea of an opening-day mindset and not letting the past weekend define who we’re going to be.�

Niu said the Herd brought a different look to the field upon arrival that sparked the big win.

“I feel like it all started with the attitude when we showed up to the ballpark,� Niu said. “Everything was that winning mentality. We were having fun, and nothing was really going to stop us today — that’s how we felt.�

With such a strong performance, Beals was happy while immediately reflecting that doing it consistently must be the next step to sustain late-season success.

“I liked that we threw a bunch of strikes on the mound. We attacked the strike zone and attacked their hitters,� Beals said. “Offensively, we hit the ball hard and down. We didn’t hit a lot of fly balls today. We hit a lot of balls hard for line drives and ground balls. Hitting that hard and controlling our barrels is a thing we have to make sure we do again. It can’t be a one-day thing.�

Marshall has four SBC series left in its regular season. The first is against South Alabama. Marshall is 13th in the league standings at 6-12. South Alabama is 11th at 7-11.

Old Dominion, Georgia State and Georgia Southern are the last three opponents after the Jaguars. All four teams are above the Herd in the standings, meaning with enough wins Marshall has a chance to move up.

“We have a great opportunity moving forward with these last four weeks of the season to do something,� Beals said.

“Our goal is to put ourselves in that conference tournament at the end of the year, and that’s what we’re fighting for. It started with the prep work today and getting ourselves into a good, confident mode rolling into South [Alabama] this weekend.�

The SBC tournament brings the top 10 of 14 teams from the regular season standings. Beals said the climb up from being the third team out has to be a steady one.

“You can’t think too far ahead,� Beals said. “You can’t say, ‘We have to win this many; this is our magic number.’ We want to take it one day at a time. I know that’s a cliché, but staying in the moment and being really good in those moments — we can stack those together. At the end of the season, we can feel like we’ll be in a good spot.�

The journey continues on Friday at Jack Cook Field. The Herd has the Jaguars at 6 p.m. Following the series, the final midweek game against West Virginia will be held in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä at GoMart Ballpark at 6 p.m. on April 30.