HANOVER, Md. – Coppin State's baseball team held a 5-3 lead after six innings, but UMBC rallied to defeat the Eagles, 6-5 on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. With the loss, Coppin falls to 6-14 while the Retrievers move to 7-9.
The heart of Coppin's order of
Jordan Hamberg,
Sebastien Sarabia and
Mike Dorcean all had two hits apiece with Hamberg scoring twice and driving in a pair to go with his team-high fourth home run of the season.
Sam Nieves and
Liam McCallum both had a hit and a pair of walks apiece.
Tyler Nichol got the start on the mound and gave up just two earned runs on four hits in 4.0 innings while striking out four.
Clay Thompson cruised through his first innings before allowing a run in the seventh before being relieved by
Nico Felber. The inherited runner by Felber scored and he took the loss without allowing an earned run while striking out three in 3.0 innings.
UMBC struck first with a three-run home run in its first at-bat, but Coppin got one of the runs back in its half of the inning on Dorcean's RBI single to left. Scoring on the play was Hamberg who reached on a fielder's choice before advancing to third on Sarabia's single to right.
Nichol held the Retrievers scoreless in the second and third before Hamberg cut the deficit to 3-2 with a leadoff home run in the third.
Fanning the final two batters of the fourth, Coppin failed to get Nichol off the hook, leaving a pair of runners stranded. Thompson got through the UMBC fifth and sixth unscathed and the Eagles capitalized with a three-run sixth on four hits and an error.
Josh Hankins led off the sixth with a double and was held up at third on a single by
Brian Nicolas.
Angel Colon drove in Hankins with a double down the left field line, tying the score at 3-3.
Brody Black gave CSU its first lead with a groundout to bring in Nicolas and Hamberg extended the advantage with a single off the third baseman.
UMBC tied the score with two runs on three hits in the seventh and took the lead in the eighth following an error, a sac bunt and a wild pitch.
Coppin threatened in the bottom of the ninth as Sarabia led off with a single before being replaced by
Bruce Hilton. Hilton was thrown out at second on a failed sacrifice attempt.
Brett Curran then came in to run at first and got to second on a wild pitch with one out. Nieves then singled through the left side and Curran was thrown out at home for the second out of the inning. The Retrievers then forced a groundball for the final out of the game.
The Eagles are set to host Fairleigh Dickinson on March 24-26 for a three-game NEC series. Friday's game is set for 3 pm, followed by 1 pm on Saturday and 12 pm on Sunday.
