Tallahassee, Fl. (February 16th, 2018) - Florida A&M University baseball got off to a slow start on opening day, losing their first game to Marshall University by a final score of 17-5.

Senior starting pitcher Ryan Anderson got off to a good start, throwing a scoreless first inning, but a two-run homerun to left center by catcher Reynaldo Pastrana put Marshall on the board in the second inning. Second baseman Geordon Blanton added on two more runs with a triple to the right field corner, and center fielder Erik Rodriguez added an RBI single to make the score 4-0 after two innings of play.

The Thundering Herd tacked on three more runs in the third after a Shane Hanon single, a Reynaldo Pastrana single and a home run by Dakota Robbins. In the bottom of the third, the Rattlers answered with a Kaycee Reese double, a Bret Maxwell RBI single, and another RBI single by Jacky Miles.

Ryan Anderson's first start of the season was cut short, as Pedro de los Rios entered the game in the fourth inning. The long ball hurt Florida A&M again, as Andrew Zban hit a two-run home run down the right field line to make it a 9-2 game.

Tucker Linder started the fifth with a solo homerun to left field before Ty Russ entered the game on the mound for Florida A&M. After forcing a ground out, Russ walked the next hitter and Jamie Grant was brought in to finish the top half of the inning. In the bottom half, Marshall replaced starting pitcher Wade Martin with Mark Meyer, and Florida A&M first baseman Brian Davis shortened the deficit with an RBI single.

Freshman Deven Shulstad delivered a scoreless seventh inning and Chris Clark and William Walter combined pitch the 8th, in which Tucker Linder and Andrew Zban each hit a two-RBI double, and Raul Cabrera hit an RBI single to left field. The Rattlers dipped into the lead in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to a Malachi Mitchell double, a Dallas Oliver RBI single to center, and another RBI single by Brian Davis.

Jeremiah McCollum held Marshall scoreless in the top of the ninth, and Phillip Hoffman held the the Rattlers scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to end the game.

Senior pitcher Ryan Anderson was handed his first loss of the 2018 season, while Mark Meyer got the win for Marshall.

The Rattlers will look to bounce back on Saturday at 1:00 PM in the second game of this three game series.