HANOVER, Md. – Nico Felber pitched five scoreless innings of relief and both
Josh Hankins and
Sebastien Sarabia homered as Coppin State's baseball team defeated Stonehill, 9-5 on Saturday night at Joe Cannon. For the second-straight game, every Eagles starter recorded at least one hit as Coppin improves to 12-22 overall and 5-9 in the Northeast Conference.
Felber picked up his first win of the season, allowing just four hits while striking out four in his five innings of work.
Tim Ruffino earned the save, giving up just one hit and striking out one in the final 1.1 innings.
Liam McCallum was pulled after 2.2 innings after giving up five runs and striking out three.
Hankins finished 2-for-3 with three runs and a pair of RBI while
Angel Colon also had a pair of hits while scoring a run, driving in one and also drawing a walk.
Mike Dorcean and
Brian Nicolas both scored a pair of runs while
Brett Curran drove in two more.
Brody Black had a double and drew a walk.
For the second-straight game, Stonehill got on the board first with three runs in the first before adding a run in the second to take a 4-0 lead.
Coppin tied it up in its half of the second with four runs on five hits, starting with a leadoff home run by Sarabia. Dorcean and Hankins followed right up with back-to-back doubles to cut the deficit in half, and following a single from Colon and a sac bunt by
Bryce Thompson, Curran singled to center field, scoring both Hankins and Nicolas to tie the score.
After Stonehill regained the lead with a run in the third, the Eagles once again put a four-spot on the board in their half of the frame. McCallum started the inning with a single, but was forced out on a fielder's choice by Dorcean. Dorcean came home to tie the score on a RBI single from Colon, and both Hankins and Colon scored on back-to-back hits from Nicolas and Thompson to make it a 7-5 game.
After a pitching change, Nicolas scored on a wild pitch to give Coppin a three-run lead.
Felber stranded a pair of runners in the fourth and allowed just one hit in the fifth before Hankins led off the bottom half with a home run to left.
After a 1-2-3 sixth, Felber got out of a jam in the seventh by striking out the side. With two outs and a runner on second, Felber was relieved by Ruffino who got a flyout to end the inning, and Ruffino gave up just one more single in the ninth to close it out.
Coppin will look to take the series when it hosts Stonehill in a 12 pm single game on Sunday, April 16 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
