HANOVER, Md. – Coppin State's baseball team led late in a pair of games but was unable to hang on as Delaware State won a pair of a pair of games over the Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Hornets won the opener which was resumed from Friday night, 8-5, and the nightcap, 7-5.
The Eagles led 1-0 in the bottom of the first when play was suspended last night due to thunderstorms and they tacked on another on a wild pitch to take a 2-0 lead.
Aaron Rea took over for
Tyler Nichol to start the second inning and gave up three runs but an RBI single by
Sebastien Sarabia tied it up after two innings.
Rea settled down to shut down DSU in the third and
Eddie Javier, Jr., capitalized for the Eagles with a two-run home run in the bottom half, giving CSU a 5-3 lead.
A pair of Hornets reached before Rea was pulled for
Tim Ruffino in the fourth and DSU was able to score one of them before the side was retired. Ruffino allowed another run in the fifth which tied the score at 5-5 and the Hornets added three more runs in the final two innings to go up, 8-5.
Darren Hagan had three hits in the opener while Sarabia and
Wellington Balsley had two hits apiece. Sarabia also drove in a pair of runs.
Ruffino was credited with the loss despite allowing just one earned run in 2.1 innings before
Rashad Ruff made his season debut. Even though he struck out a pair, Ruff gave up a run on three hits in 1.1 before
John Neeld struck out the only batter he faced.
In game two, Delaware State took advantage of three CSU errors to score three runs in the first but Sarabia helped get one of those runs back with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Both teams went scoreless in the second and Nichol blanked the Hornets in the third before a grand slam to left center by
Conner Walker put CSU on top, 5-3.
Nichol tossed a 1-2-3 fourth and fifth inning, retiring the final nine batters he faced before
Giovanni Canales came in to start the sixth. DSU scored for runs in the sixth and Coppin stranded runners in the sixth and seventh.
Sarabia collected three more hits in the nightcap, going 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI while Walker went 1-for-1 with a grand slam and a pair of walks.
Devyan Dyal also had a multi-hit effort.
Nichol threw 5.0 innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out six in the start. Canales took the loss with his lone inning of work and
Bradley Tuttle retired the side in the seventh.
Coppin (5-17, 3-8 MEAC) was scheduled to host the Hornets in a single game on Sunday, April 10, but that game has been postponed due to inclement weather in the forecast. The Eagles will host George Washington University at 3 pm on Wednesday, April 14.
