HANOVER, Md. – Coppin State's baseball team was edged by Mount St. Mary's, 6-5, on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagles fall to 3-1 on the season while the Mountaineers remain unbeaten at 4-0.
Trailing, 6-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, Coppin pulled to within one as
Brett Curran drilled a triple down the right field. Scoring on the play was
Corey Miley who drew a one-out pinch-hit walk. After a punchout,
Jordan Hamberg was riskily intentionally walked, putting the potential winning run at first base for
Sebastien Sarabia. Sarabia lined a shot to the gap in right center but was robbed of extra bases and the possible game-winning RBI as the right fielder made a diving catch.
The Eagles recorded just four base hits on the afternoon, but the pitching staff allowed just six with many baserunners coming on walks and hit batsman.
Brian Nicolas had a pair of Coppin's hits, recording a pair of doubles while driving in a run. Hamberg had an RBI double and walked twice. Curran also recorded a walk as the trio were the only Eagles to reach base safely twice on the day.
Christian Pareja allowed four earned runs over 4.0 innings while giving up three hits and striking out four in his first career start.
Juan Pablo Hernandez and
Nico Felber pitched two scoreless innings apiece before
Rashad Ruff fanned two in the ninth while giving up a run.
The Mount score a run in the second and third innings before Hamberg and Sarabia recorded RBI with a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly, respectively, tying the score at 2-2. Mount plated a run in the fourth to retake the lead before scoring two in the fifth to go up, 5-2.
Coppin got both of those runs back in its half of the fifth as Hamberg doubled down the right field line to score
Brody Black before Nicolas doubled to left, scoring Hamberg.
Neither team found much offense over the next three innings, but Mount St. Mary's extra run in the top of the ninth proved to be the difference.
Coppin makes the trip to the West Coast to play 19
th-ranked Oregon State in a three-game series on February 24-26. Friday's game has been moved up to a 6:05 pm ET start, followed by 4:35 pm on Saturday and 4:05 pm on Sunday.
