TOWSON, Md. – Christian Pareja held Towson without a hit for the first 5.2 innings as the Coppin State baseball team defeated the Tigers, 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Schuerholz Park. With the win, the Eagles improve to 8-16 while Towson falls to 7-20.
Coppin has now won two-straight games against the Tigers.
A freshman from Clifton, N.J., Pareja picked up his first career victory, allowing no earned runs on just one hit while striking out two in 5.2 innings. After giving up his first hit with two outs in the sixth, Pareja was replaced by
Tim Ruffino who struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning.
Coppin gave Pareja a quick lead to work with as
Brett Curran singled to lead off the game and
Josh Hankins crushed a two-run home run to left to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Towson scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first before CSU put another two runs on the board in the second.
Liam McCallum started it off with a single and got to third following a wild pitch a groundout.
Bruce Hilton drove him in with a single before stealing second and scoring on an RBI single by Curran.
That was all the run support that Coppin needed with Pareja facing the minimum in the second and retiring eight-straight Tigers at one point. Towson plated an unearned run in the sixth and seventh, went down in order in the eighth and Ruff picked up his first save of the season after a scoreless ninth.
Curran led Coppin by going 3-for-4 with a walk, a run and an RBI while stealing a base. McCallum,
Sebastien Sarabia and Hilton had two hits apiece and Hilton swiped a pair of bases. Along with his two-run blast, Hankins also added a sac bunt.
The Eagles host Hartford for a three-game series on April 1-2 with a 12 pm doubleheader on Saturday, followed by a 1 pm first pitch on Sunday.
