First and Ben

By Ben Anderson      Gerald J. Harrison has been hired as the new leader of the Marshall Thundering Herd. Harrison comes to Marshall after serving Austin Peay where he served the same position since 2018.      Marshall University President Brad D. Smith said that Harrison checked all of the boxes when looking for a new director of athletics.        “Someone who's a strategic thinker,” Smith said. “Thinks over multiple time horizons. Someone who drives for results, establishes bold goals, figures out the priorities and resources them. Someone who builds a high performance culture, who can attract and retain the top talent, and then create an environment where they can do the best work of their lives. Someone who innovates for impact wakes up every day and says there has to be a new and better way. To make this happen and last but not least, someone who inspires through personal action brings intellectual curiosity, humility, teamwork...

 By Ben Anderson      The Tri-State Coal Cats struggled in its last homestand of the season as they dropped four of six games at Jack Cook Field.       The week started with a two-game series against the Bristol State Liners, which saw the Coal Cats split the two-game series. Game one was a rough outing for the Coal Cats as they fell 8-2.       Tri-State managed just one hit in the loss. The tone was set early after starting pitcher Kenneth Jackson ran into trouble in the second inning. With two outs and a runner on, a fielding error by Tyler Smolinski opened the door for Bristol, and the State Liners made the most of it. Jackson never quite recovered, surrendering five runs -- only one of them earned -- across four innings of work. He issued four walks and struck out one.      Noah LaFine entered in relief and struggled to settle in, allowing two more runs on three hits and three walks. The bullpen allowed one r...

 By Ben Anderson      The #3 seeded Best Virginia upset the #2 seeded Herd That 82-75 on Sunday night in the TBT West Virginia Regional Semi-Final.       Tre Mitchell hit the game-winning jumper in the Elam ending to give Best Virginia the win. His 23 points led the WVU-alumni team into the final of the West Virginia Region where it will play the #1 seeded Elite Nation tomorrow night.       “They dropped into that zone,” Mitchell said. “I truly feel that anytime I get the ball in the middle of the zone, I can do anything with it.”      The difference in the game was the battle of free throws. Best Virginia made 14 of 17 – 82.4%, to Herd That's 10 of 20 – 50%.       “We knew we had to match their intensity and match their physicality,” Best Virginia head coach Jerrod West said.      With the heavy physicality from both teams throughout the contest, it became very clear that the g...

 By Ben Anderson      With the season nearly coming to an end, the struggles continued for the Tri-State Coal Cats last week as it dropped four of six games       Tri-State started the week at home splitting a two-game series against the Bluefield Ridge Runners. Game one was all Bluefield as it struck out 16 Coal Cats batters. Five pitchers Christian Charalambous (Presbyterian), Evan O’Neill (Indiana), Zach Applegate (Abilene Christian), Ethan Rucker (Georgetown) and Evan Mobley (Florida Southern).combined in the shutout while allowing only three hits as the Ridge Runners won 2-0.       Bluefield struck early with a first-inning RBI single from Ryan Niedzwiedz, then added another in the fourth via Ethan Guerra’s liner to plate Josh Hines. Those two runs proved to be enough.      Tri-State mustered just three hits and left several runners stranded. Jackson Golden was a bright spot, reaching base four times -- once...

 By Ben Anderson      Herd That won its first-round matchup against the Sikh Warriors in the West Virginia Regional of The Basketball Tournament in Charleston Friday night 84-71.       Herd That is without Jon Elmore and Tavion Kinsey until further notice due to their NBA Summer League Obligations. For them to be available for Sunday, the Toronto Raptors have to defeat the Sacramento Kings later today, according to Herd That head coach Ot Elmore.      The absence of its two top stars was apparent in the first half as Herd That struggled offensively, shooting 38% percent from the field, and 29% from behind the arc.       “I think the main thing you saw there was these guys are used to playing with Jon (Elmore),” Elmore said. “When you got a point guard like Jon (Elmore), it gets the offense moving. That first half we scored 36 points, we scored 48 points in the second half. A lot of that was JP (Tokoto) and Jacore...

 By Ben Anderson      Addison Painter, the men’s indoor and outdoor long jump record holder for the Thundering Herd, has officially been hired as an assistant coach at Marietta College. Painter returns to Marietta where he spent the first four years of his career where he was a 2x NCAA Division III All-American in long jump.         Painter said that returning to Marietta is special because of how it allows him to reconnect with his former head coach Eric Putnam.         “He’s an open book,” Painter said in an interview with First and Ben. “If I ever got a question about anything I was able to go in there and just ask him and he's always going to be honest with me and tell me exactly how things are. He's also a great friend. I feel like you rarely get the chance to build a friendship with your coaches when you're an athlete, and he and I were able to do that while I was here as an athlete. Being able to lean on that f...

 By Ben Anderson      With just a few weeks remaining in the season, the Tri-State Coal Cats found themselves in a roller coaster of a week in their latest road stretch.            Tri-State started the week by sweeping the Bristol State Liners. In the series overall, the Coal Cats dominated by scoring 26 runs across 24 innings.            Game one saw the most offense out of the Coal Cats in the two-game series by defeating the State Liners 17-4. After being tied 3-3 after three innings, Tri-State erupted on offense with four runs in the fourth inning and eight runs in the fifth inning to pull away with the run-rule victory after seven innings. Sal Mineo, Bishop Quarles and Chandler Murray each drove in three runs, while Mineo and Ryan Maggy both homered.      Starter Jack Gibson, after giving up 10 hits in four innings, limited the State Liners to just four runs. Brynden Rodriguez ...

By Ben Anderson      With the first month in the books for the Tri-State Coal Cats, they aimed to turn things around in the month of July to race back to playoff contention. The Coal Cats however, started the month on the wrong paw, as they dropped four of five games to begin the final month of the season.       Tri-State started the week originally with a three-game series on the road against the Bluefield Ridge Runners, which was shortened to two games after the opener was cancelled due to weather. In game one, Tri-State suffered a loss in the most heartbreaking way possible, a walk-off.      The Coal Cats struck early in the first inning, Julio Solier came home on a throwing error following Chandler Murray’s RBI single, which also scored Sal Mineo. Bishop Quarles added to the rally with a single that brought in Murray, giving Tri-State an early 3-0 edge.       After Bluefield got on the board in the second from an ...