HANOVER, Md. – Coppin State's baseball team completed a three-game sweep of MEAC rival Maryland Eastern Shore with a 14-4 eight-inning victory on Senior Day Sunday at Joe Cannon Stadium. Prior to the game, the Eagles recognized their seniors in a pregame ceremony:
Erik Crossman, Nazier McIlwain, Branden Redfern, Devin Rivera Ozuna, Jahmon Taylor and
Drew Thomas.
The Basics
- Final Score: Coppin State 14, Maryland Eastern Shore 4
- Records: Coppin State (24-17, 15-6 MEAC), Maryland Eastern Shore (10-37, 4-17 MEAC)
- Location: Hanover, Md. (Joe Cannon Stadium)
Inside the Numbers
- Justin Banks finished a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and a walk to lead the Coppin State offense that recorded 14 base hits on the day.
- Senior Drew Thomas also had a pair of hits and two RBI, including a solo home run to dead center field.
- Corey Treyes and Marcos Castillo also had two hits apiece while Castillo also drove in a pair of runs with a triple. Treyes drew a walk, scored twice and drove in a run from the leadoff spot.
- Senior Erik Crossman drove in a pair of runs in his last home game at Coppin.
- With a single in the eighth inning, senior Nazier McIlwain recorded his 192nd career hit, now standing alone at the top of the CSU record book, passing Harry Williams (2007-10).
- Devin Rivera Ozuna threw all eight innings to get his league-leading eighth victory of the season. The senior allowed just three earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven.
How It Happened
- Maryland Eastern Shore got on the board first with a run in the top of the first but Coppin State bounced right back with a sacrifice fly by Erik Crossman in the bottom half of the inning. Corey Treyes scored on the fly ball to left after he walked and got to third on a single by Justin Banks.
- The Hawks regained the lead at 3-1 with a pair of runs in the second but the Eagles put five runs across in the third. Banks cut the lead to one with a sacrifice fly to right, plating Conner Walker before Crossman's RBI single up the middle plated Derek Lohr.
- After Nazier McIlwain drew a walk, Marcos Castillo hit a two-run triple to right field, scoring Crossman and McIlwain. Castillo then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 6-3 game.
- UMES cut the deficit to 6-4 with a run in the fourth but Coppin put the game away with another five runs in the fifth. Matt Day got a two-out rally started with an infield single before stealing second and scoring on throwing errors by the catcher and center fielder. Drew Thomas followed right up with a solo home run to dead center, giving the Eagles an 8-4 lead. After an error and a hit batsman, Treyes drove in Walker with a RBI single before another RBI single by Banks. A wild pitch then allowed Treyes to score to make it 11-4.
- Devin Rivera Ozuna got a 1-2-3 sixth and seventh inning before his offense scored twice in the bottom of the seventh on a RBI double by Lohr, who later scored on a wild pitch and throwing error.
- Ozuna also faced the minimum in the eighth, getting a 6-4-3 double play to end what would be his last inning at Joe Cannon Stadium. The righthander faced the minimum batters in each of the last four frames.
- Coppin put the mercy-rule in effect in walk-off fashion on an RBI single by Thomas. Prior to that, McIlwain led off the inning with his record-breaking 192nd career base hit with a single to center field. Castillo then walked and McIlwain was pinch-ran for by Isaiah Wilson, allowing for a nice send off for the senior first baseman. A walk was issued to Day prior to Thomas' single.
Up Next: Coppin State visits George Washington University on Wednesday, May 1 at 3 pm before heading to Delaware State for a three-game MEAC series on May 3-5.
