HANOVER, Md. – Coppin State baseball suffered a pair of home conference losses to Delaware State University on Saturday, April 15
th at Joe Cannon Stadium. Sophomore
Nazier McIlwain combined for five hits on the day including a season-high four hits in the early game.
Coppin State falls to 8-22 overall and 6-9 in the MEAC while Delaware State moves to 11-19 overall and 7-8 in the conference.
Coppin State was outhit 13-7 in game one of the doubleheader against Delaware State. McIlwain was hot with a perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate featuring an RBI and two runs scored.
McIlwain had the Eagles first hit of the afternoon with a single to center field in the first inning. Coppin State finally got on the board in the third inning after the Hornets scored three runs in the first and one in the third inning leading 4-0. Senior
Clinton Arnold singled to lead off the bottom of the third inning and then stole second base. Senior Bryrant Miranda recorded his eighth RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly ball to right field brining in Arnold with CSU trailing 4-1.
In the sixth inning, the Eagles trimmed the deficit to two runs with a pair of hits by McIlwain and sophomore
Jamar Criss. Freshman
Allen Saar drew a walk at the leadoff spot and then stole second base. Saar scored on an RBI double through the left side by McIlwain and then ended up scoring on a single up the middle by Criss.
Things fell apart for Coppin State's defense in the seventh inning when Delaware State exploded for six runs on six hits taking an 11-3 advantage. Three additional Eagle runs were scored in the bottom of the eighth inning.
McIlwain had his third hit with a single to shortstop. Sophomore
Malik White RBI grounded out to second base with McIlwain scoring on the play. Next,
Andres Santana RBI singled to shortstop scoring freshman
Corey Treyes and then Arnold brought in the Eagles' final run on a fielder's choice RBI scoring Criss.
The Hornets extended their lead with a pair of runs on three hits in the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth McIlwain had his fourth hit of the game singling to left field.
Starting pitcher
Quinn Gleed (2-4) went 6.0 innings striking out a pair and walked three. Freshman relief pitchers
Jacob Lewis and
Anthony Martinez both were inserted into the game. Lewis had one strikeout while Martinez had two in 2.2 innings of work.
In the later game the Eagles led 1-0 after the first inning on an RBI single up the middle by McIlwain. McIlwain's fifth hit of the day brought in Saar who led off with a walk.
Delaware State came away with three runs on four hits and one fielding error by the Eagles in the second inning. Junior
Brett Helmbrecht singled to right field in the bottom of the second inning.
The Hornets added on one run in each of the fifth and sixth innings jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Eagles responded with a pair of runs on three hits in the sixth inning.
Saar recorded his first home run of the season with a solo shot to right field leading off the inning. Santana was next and singled to right field. The final run of the inning was logged on an RBI double to left field scoring Santana (5-3). CSU's final hit of the series came in the ninth inning on a single to left field by Miranda. The Hornets defense held on down the stretch winning the weekend series against the Eagles two games to one.
Starting pitcher sophomore
Jahmon Taylor went 6.0 innings striking out five batters and walking two. Relief pitcher junior
John Bonanca went 1.0 inning for the Eagles.
The Eagles head to George Washington University on Tuesday, April 18
th for their next game in Washington, DC at 3 p.m.
