CHARLESTON, S.C. – Coppin State's baseball team dropped the final game of a three-game series at The Citadel, 15-7, on Sunday afternoon at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The Eagles now stand at 0-3 on the season.
Inside the Numbers
- Justin Banks, Lawrence Noble and Corey Treyes each had a pair of hits while Justin Oakley and Banks each drove in a pair of runs. Both of Noble's hits went for doubles while Oakley finished the 1-for-3 with two runs and two walks including his first career home run.
- Matt Day also reached base safely twice on the day with a base hit and a walk and Cole Gerula also homered.
- Anthony Martinez struggled on the mound, giving up six earned runs while retiring just one batter. Tim Ruffino got through 4.2 innings in relief, starting off extremely strong but wound up allowing up five earned runs on seven hits.
- Bradley Tuttle gave up three earned runs in the sixth and seventh innings before Mike Dorcean tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
How it Happened
- Coppin State got out to an early lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first on a two-run single by Justin Banks. Justin Oakley and Corey Treyes scored on the play as Oakley drew a leadoff walk and Treyes was hit by a pitch. The pair was then successful on a double steal to put two runners into scoring position.
- CSU continued to threaten in its first at bat as Matt Day drew a walk and Eddie Javier, Jr. singled but The Citadel got out of the jam with a double play ball.
- The Bulldogs erupted for six runs in the bottom of the first on five hits and a pair of walks. Anthony Martinez got a fly ball out after two runs had scored earlier but was pulled for Tim Ruffino after a wild pitch and two more base hits to make it a 4-2 score. Ruffino gave up a sacrifice fly as he faced his first collegiate batter, and after a double, got out of the inning with a groundout.
- The Eagles rallied to tie the score at 6-6 with four runs in the top of the second. Oakley had the big hit of the inning with a two-run home run to right center, plating Lawrence Noble who had doubled in his first collegiate at bat. Coppin continued to roll offensively as Treyes and Banks both singled and the duo later scored on RBIs by Carlos Alviarez and Day.
- Ruffino got a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half of the inning and Cole Gerula put CSU back on top, 7-6 with a solo blast to left center. Coppin then loaded the bases once again but grounded into a double play to halt the frame.
- Ruffino once again retired the side in order in the third but the hosts tied the score at 7-7 with a run in the fourth and regained the lead at 9-7 with a pair of runs in the fifth.
- Citadel extended the lead with three runs in the sixth as Ruffino failed to get any of the first three Bulldogs out, before being replaced by Bradley Tuttle.
- Three more runs scored for The Citadel in the seventh before Mike Dorcean got a 1-2-3 eighth inning in his first career pitching appearance.
Up Next: Coppin makes the short trip to Annapolis, Md., to take on Navy at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, February 19.
