CATONSVILLE, Md. – Coppin State's baseball team rallied for five runs in the eighth inning to defeat UMBC, 13-11, on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The victory gives the Eagles 20 for the season, just one shy of a program-record and gives head coach
Sherman Reed 84 career victories which breaks Jason Booker's old mark of 83 wins.
Trailing, 11-8 going into their final at bat, Coppin tagged Retrievers reliever Max Goron for five runs on five hits to go with an error to take a two-run lead.
Brett Helmbrecht and
Carlos Alviarez led off the frame with singles before
Andres Santana drew a walk to load the bases.
Corey Treyes then doubled down the right field line to drive in two runs, cutting the deficit to 11-10.
Caleb Duhay then hit a sacrifice fly to score Santana and moving Treyes to third, tying the score at 11. After an intentional walk to
Nazier McIlwain,
Derek Lohr laid down a bunt single to give the Eagles the lead and McIlwain later scored on a throwing error.
Delvin McFadden, who came into the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth, got out unscathed with two strikeouts. McFadden then allowed just a single in the ninth before forcing a game-sealing groundball double play.
Coppin had led multiple times earlier in the game, going ahead 3-0 after the first on a RBI single by McIlwain, followed by a two-run double by
Marcos Castillo. The Retrievers cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the third before the Navy & Gold tagged them for five runs in the bottom half. McIlwain and Alviarez delivered with a two-run singles in the inning, sandwiching an RBI groundout by Helmbrecht.
UMBC put up back-to-back crooked numbers in the fourth and fifth innings off
Devin Rivera Ozuna and
Bradley Tuttle to take a 10-8 lead before adding an extra run in the eighth to go up by three.
McIlwain drove in a team-high three runs and scored three times while going 2-for-4 with a walk. Helmbrecht had a team-high three hits while Duhay and Alviarez also had multi-hit games.
Erik Crossman and Treyes both drew a pair of walks as Treyes also drove in two runs and scored three times.
The Thursday afternoon game at Delaware State has been cancelled so the MEAC North Champion Eagles will return to action at the MEAC Tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida on May 15-19 where they have a first round bye.
