GLEN BURNIE, Md. – Wellington Balsley delivered with a two-run walk-off single to give the Coppin State baseball team a 4-3 MEAC victory over Maryland Eastern Shore in game one on Saturday afternoon at Bachman Park. The Eagles (20-25, 16-11 MEAC) now have 20 victories for the third time in the last four full seasons and still lead the conference after dropping the nightcap, 5-3 in ten innings.
Maryland Eastern Shore led, 3-1 going into the sixth inning before
Johan Freudenburg threw a 1-2-3 top half with two strikeouts, and
Jordan Hamberg cut the deficit to a single run with one swing, homering to right field.
After a scoreless top of the seventh,
Mike Dorcean got the rally started with a single and was aggressive on the basepath, advancing to third on a pinch-hit double from
Corey Miley.
Matt Day laid down a bunt single to load the bases before Balsley found a hole up the middle to drive in Dorcean and pinch runner
Bruce Hilton.
Balsley went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI in the opener while Hamberg went a perfect 3-for-3 which included his team-leading seventh home run of the season. Day continued his hot hitting as of late, going 2-for-3.
Coppin led 1-0 after the first inning when Balsley scored on a groundball double play.
John Neeld made his first start on the mound this season and went 5.0 innings while allowing just three runs on five hits while striking out three. All three runs came in the third inning as he escaped jams unscathed in both the fourth and fifth innings. Freudenburg got the win in relief, allowing just one hit over the final 2.0 innings.
Coppin led 3-0 after the first six innings as Day slugged a home run in the third, and both Balsley and
Tyler Lloyd recorded RBI in the fifth.
In the nightcap,
Marcos Herrand cruised through the first six innings in his start, allowing just four hits while holding the Hawks scoreless. After two of the first three hitters reached in the seventh, Derrick Mayes laid down a bunt single and the throw to first was wild which allowed a run to score. Another run came to score on a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly tied the game at 3-3.
Coppin left two runners on in the bottom half which led to extra innings.
Matt Perkins threw a scoreless eighth and ninth before Maryland Eastern Shore scored twice in the tenth with a passed ball allowing a runner to score all the way from second base. The Hawks added a home run later in the inning and CSU went down in order in the bottom of the frame.
Day and
Marcos Castillo both had a pair of hits to lead the Eagles offensively. Herrand was credited with one earned run on six hits while striking out four in 7.0 innings of work. Perkins allowed just one earned run on two hits, fanning three in 3.0 innings.
The Navy & Gold will look to take the series when it hosts Maryland Eastern Shore at 9:00 am on Sunday, May 1 at Blandair Park in Columbia.
