NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State's baseball team dropped a pair of MEAC games at Norfolk State on Saturday afternoon at the Spartan's Marty Miller Field. Norfolk needed to rally to win both games, taking game one, 6-2, and the nightcap, 3-2.
Grant Williams drove in a pair of runs with a double to the gap in left center to give the Eagles an early, 2-0 lead, but Coppin was unable to score from then on.
Norfolk got one of the runs back in its half of the second with a throwing error allowing a run to score. The Spartans tied it up in the third with another run off starting pitcher
Tyler Nichol before going up, 4-2 after the fourth.
Two more Spartans scored in the fifth to make it a 6-2 ballgame before Nichol retired the final two batters of the inning.
Bradley Tuttle took over to start the sixth and threw a scoreless inning but a single by
Nick Morales in the seventh was wasted with a game-ending double play.
Williams also drew a walk while
Mike Dorcean also reached twice safely with a single a walk.
Nichol was charged with five runs on eight hits while striking out five in 5.0 innings of work in the loss.
The nightcap also started out favorably for the Eagles, who got an RBI single from
Conner Walker in the first, and another run in the third as
Wellington Balsley scored all the way from first when Williams reached on an error during a sacrifice bunt attempt.
Starting pitcher
Tim Ruffino faced the minimum through three innings but Norfolk countered and tied it up with a pair of runs in the fourth.
After a scoreless fifth, Ruffo walked the leadoff batter before being replaced by Tuttle. After a hit batsman, a popup, and a double steal, Tuttle got the second out without the run scoring. A fielding error then allowed the go-ahead run to score and CSU was unable to put a runner on base in the seventh.
Walker had two of the team's four hits in game two while Balsley went 1-for-1 with two runs scored and a walk.
Ruffino took the loss despite allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out four in 5.0 innings of work.
Sunday's series finale is also scheduled to start at 12 pm.
