SALISBURY, Md. – The No. 3 seed of the MEAC Northern Division Coppin State Eagles (12-36, 8-16) will take on the No. 2 seed of the MEAC Southern Division Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (25-25, 17-7) in the opening round of the 2016 MEAC Baseball Championships this Thursday at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
COPPIN QUICK HITS
Coppin State is 12-36 overall and 8-15 in the MEAC, ranking third in the Northern Division of the conference.
- The Eagles are 6th in the MEAC in team batting.
- CSU is 5th in the conference in team fielding.
- Senior outfielder George Dragon leads the team in walks (29), which is tied for fifth in the MEAC and has recorded a team leading 32 RBIs.
- Junior infielder Bryant Miranda has a team-leading 57 hits for CSU. He is ninth in the MEAC with 44 runs scored, which also leads the Eagles.
- Senior outfielder John Kraft led the Eagles with 10 home runs through 31 games played this season. He recorded homers in back-to-back games three times.
- Freshman infielder Nazier McILwain had a team-season best 12 game hit and reached base streak. He also has five multiple hit games and four multi-RBI performances.
- Freshman pitcher Krystian Negron leads the team with 71.1 innings tossed, ranking third in the MEAC. He has tallied 56 strikeouts (7.07 so/g), eighth in the MEAC.
- Freshman pitcher Aaron Rea leads the MEAC making 13 starts with a league best five complete games. He is ninth in the MEAC throwing 64.0 innings with 47 strikeouts, second on the Eagles. Rea pitched a complete game allowing no runs in seven innings against UMES (Apr. 30) and posted a team-season high nine strikeouts vs. Delaware State (Mar. 26).
ALL-CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
- Senior outfielder Darien Percell was named to the 2016 Baseball Preseason All-MEAC Team at the utility position.
- Pitcher Krystian Negron was named MEAC Rookie of the Week (Mar. 21) and MEAC Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 28) in back-to-back weeks. He was also named College Sports Madness MEAC Baseball Player of the Week (Mar. 22).
- John Kraft earned MEAC Baseball Player of Week honors (Apr. 04) and College Sports Madness MEAC Baseball Player of the Week (Apr. 05).
- George Dragon (OF) and Bryant Miranda (3B) earned 2016 All-MEAC Third Team honors.
- Freshman catcher John O'Dwyer was selected as the MEAC Baseball Rookie of the Week (May. 16)
THE EAGLES vs. THE WILDACTS
- The #3 seed Coppin State (Northern Div.) will face the #2 seed Bethune-Cookman (Southern Div.) in the opening round of the 2016 MEAC Baseball Championships.
- Bethune-Cookman holds a 28-8 advantage in the all-time series against Coppin State on the diamond.
- The squads last played each other during the 2013 MEAC Baseball Tournament where the Eagles won the opening round game (10-8), but were eliminated by the Wildcats (10-4) in the semifinals.
O'DWYER HEATING UP
- Freshman designated hitter John O'Dwyer finished with two hits, two RBIs, scored a run and belted his first collegiate home run in the Eagles 6-5 season finale win over Richmond.
- O'Dwyer was named MEAC Baseball Rookie of the Week (May. 16) for his performance against Richmond.
- The versatile freshman has recorded a hit in seven of Coppin's last nine games.
- O'Dwyer has tallied 26 hits, scored 12 runs and knocked in 15 RBIs. He has 146 put outs and 23 assists defensively.
