CHARLESTON, S.C. - After a season high of runs and hits in Friday's series opener, the Charleston Southern (4-3) offense was held at bay by the Marshall (2-4) pitchers as they took a 4-0 loss in game one on Saturday.

The Buccaneers, however, bounced back with a 6-4 win in the nightcap, taking a 2-1 lead in the four-game series.

The Herd's Mike Mason (2-0) went seven shutout innings in getting the win in game one. Mason allowed only five hits and one walk while striking out seven. Joe Church came on in relief for Marshall pitching the final two innings.

His counterpart, CSU's Ryan Gunther, had solid outing as well. Gunther pitched into the eighth inning, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. He also struck out a career-high eight while only issuing one walk.

Marshall took the lead in the top of the second when South Carolina native Gray Stafford took Gunther deep to left field for his first homerun of the season. Both pitchers put it on cruise control until the top of the seventh.

Marshall tacked on one more in the seventh on a Sergio Leon RBI single. They would then add two more in the eighth off Buccaneer reliever Zach Hagaman.

Denis Buckley came on to pitch a scoreless ninth for the Bucs.

Brian Welch, who counted a double among his two hits led the Bucs offensively.

Freshman Bobby Ison and junior Jaren Sustar each extended their hitting streaks to six and nine games, respectively.

In game two, junior John Faircloth broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double to score Brian Welch and senior Corey Deighan (1-0) provided five solid innings of relief in picking up the victory.

CSU's game two starter Patrick Dolan pitched out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the first to give the Bucs a little momentum. Bobby Ison and Jaren Sustar then recorded back-to-back singles in the bottom of the inning to extend their hitting streaks. Ison's streak is now at seven games while Sustar's has reached ten. Ison scored from third later in the inning when Sustar stole second, drawing a throw from the catcher.

With Charleston Southern (4-3) leading 1-0, Alex Tomasovich's second inning RBI single scored Chase Shelton for a 2-0 Bucs lead.

Marshall answered with three runs in the third with Leon giving the Herd a 3-2 lead with a two-out RBI single.

However, CSU regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. After a Welch single, Faircloth doubled to center to score Welch. After Shelton walked, Drew Woodall delivered Faircloth with an RBI single.

Deighan came on in relief of Dolan in the fourth inning. Deighan allowed two hits and one run with five punchouts over the next six innings.His only hiccup came in the sixth. After retiring the first two in the inning, he issued a two out walk to Dundon. Gomez then doubled to drive him in, tying the game at four.

The Buccaneer offense came thru again in the seventh. A one out walk to Welch followed by a Hagaman single set up runners on the corners for Faircloth, who delivered his run-scoring double for a 5-4 lead. Faircloth later scored on a passed ball to cap the scoring for CSU.

Charleston Southern and Marshall conclude their series tomorrow at CSU Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.