SALISBURY, Md. – Drew Thomas hit a pinch hit sacrifice fly in the 11
th inning to give the Coppin State baseball team a 5-4 victory at Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday afternoon at Perdue Stadium. The victory gave the Eagles the series victory and they now stand at 2-1 in MEAC play.
Scoring on Thomas' long fly ball was
Corey Treyes who walked earlier in the inning and advanced to third on a single to right center by
Andres Santana. Treyes also earned the victory in relief for the Navy & Gold.
Santana and Treyes were two of four CSU players to have multi-hit games along with
Nazier McIlwain and
Marcos Castillo. Treyes pitched three 3.0 innings of relief, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out two to get the win.
Devin Rivera Ozuna pitched a perfect 11
th inning to earn the save.
Coppin needed to rally from a two-run deficit early in the game as Maryland Eastern Shore got a pair of runs off starting pitcher
Quinn Gleed in the second and third innings. With one out in the third,
Aaron Rea replaced Gleed on the mound and allowed just one unearned run on three hits in 4.2 innings while striking out four.
The Eagles did not get on the board until the sixth inning when McIlwain cut the Hawks' lead in half with a RBI single. Santana scored on the play after drawing a free pass and swiping second base.
An inning later, Castillo tied the game with a triple to the gap in left center which scored
Erik Crossman who had doubled just prior. Castillo scored later in the frame to give Coppin the lead on a single by Treyes but UMES got the run back to tie the score in its half of the seventh.
Derek Lohr gave Coppin back the lead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth to score
Caleb Duhay who doubled to start the inning before advancing 90 feet on a single by McIlwain. CSU unfortunately could not maintain the lead as the Hawks hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.
The Eagles threatened in the ninth and tenth innings to no avail while Treyes got through the innings fairly easy on the hill. After Thomas' sac fly, Rivera Ozuna pitched a 1-2-3 11
th inning to seal the victory.
On Deck: Coppin is set to host UMBC on Wednesday, March 21 at 3 pm.
