HANOVER, Md. – A four-run third inning by Lehigh was too much to overcome as the Coppin State baseball team fell to the Mountain Hawks, 8-2 on Wednesday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagles now stand at 11-21 on the season while Lehigh moves to 14-20.
Christian Pareja took the loss for Coppin despite allowing just four runs on four hits while striking out three in 5.0 innings.
Giovanni Canales pitched the next two innings without allowing a hit before
Tim Ruffino recorded a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
John Neeld gave up three runs in the ninth.
Five different Eagles had one hit apiece with
Brody Black,
Anthony Divittorio and
Angel Colon recording doubles.
Liam McCallum matched Divittorio with an RBI while also scoring a run and drawing a walk.
Pareja faced the minimum through the first two innings before Lehigh got a solo home run and a three-run double in the third to take a 4-0 lead. The Mountain Hawks tacked on an unearned run off Pareja in the fifth to extend the advantage before McCallum put CSU on the board in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Scoring on the play was
Noah Murciano who had singled down the left field line to start the frame.
Canales retired the Lehigh 9-1-2 hitters in order in the seventh, but Coppin left a pair stranded in the bottom half as Hankins singled before a double from Colon.
Divittorio had an RBI double to right field in the eighth, driving in McCallum and advancing
Sebastien Sarabia to third, but a new relief pitcher got a groundout to end the inning.
Lehigh scored three runs on four hits in the top of the ninth before CSU went down in order in its final at-bat.
The Eagles host Stonehill in a three-game NEC series on April 14-16 with a 3 pm start on Friday, followed by a 1 pm first pitch on Saturday and 12 pm on Sunday.
