Baseball | 3/27/2015 4:37:00 PM
BALTIMORE – It's not exactly life or death for the Coppin State baseball team, but its relevance in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) race has reached critical condition even though the calendar hasn't turned to April yet.
Coppin State (1-16 overall, 0-6 MEAC North) visits Norfolk State (6-10, 3-3) for a huge three-game series at Marty L. Miller Field beginning with a Saturday single game at 4:00 p.m. The series concludes Sunday with a doubleheader starting at 10:30 a.m. The schedule was adjusted because of weather.
Here's the situation, Coppin State has dropped all six of its games against MEAC opponents Delaware State (5-1 MEAC) and UMES (4-2) so far. The Eagles trail third-place Norfolk State (3-3) by three games in the conference loss column. A bad weekend could push the Eagles further from the top of the standings.
Unlike previous years, only three MEAC Northern Division teams qualify for the conference playoffs this season. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the odd team out for now. However, the Eagles are still confident they can turn their season around and leap back into the playoff chase.
They will need to do that against a Spartan squad that won five of six meetings against Coppin State last season. Coppin State hasn't won a series at Norfolk State since April 2 & 3, 2010. Coppin State did win its last meeting against the Spartans last season, a 2-0 victory in the second game of a doubleheader at Joe Cannon Stadium.
Coppin State's offense has been solid, ranking fifth in the MEAC, with an overall batting average of .245.
Both teams are coming off non-conference losses this week. Coppin State lost to Lehigh 17-5 despite two more hits from the sizzling bat of
George Dragon, who has nine hits in his last 12 at-bats. Dragon is sixth in the conference in batting with a .365 batting average.
Darien Percell also enters the weekend with a five-game hitting streak.
Coppin State has placed plenty of pressure on opposing teams this season especially over its last three games in which it has drawn 28 bases on balls. The Eagles walked 10 times in their game against Lehigh. The Eagles have also homered in four straight games.
Even though Norfolk State's team batting average is eighth in the MEAC, it features Denathan Dukes, who's .342 batting average is ninth in the MEAC. One pitcher the Eagles will probably see is junior left hander Matt Outman, who was selected as MEAC Pitcher of the Week.
Outman struck out nine hitters over six innings over a 10-4 win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday. He improved to 2-1 with the win, allowing just one run and three hits. Outman has struck out 29 batters over 22 innings of work this season, fourth-most in the MEAC. In the Spartans' 12-5 loss to Virginia Tech, Syeed Mahdi had three hits and drove in a pair of runs.
After this weekend's series, Coppin State will visit Navy Wednesday afternoon beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Live stats and live video for all three games will be available through www.nsuspartans.com. The links are also available at the top of this page.
