HANOVER, Md. – Despite outhitting the Pioneers, Coppin State's baseball team dropped a pair of NEC games to Sacred Heart on Thursday evening at Joe Cannon Stadium. After falling, 12-4 in the opener, and 11-3 in the nightcap, the Eagles now stand at 13-28 overall and 6-14 in league play.
Game 1: Sacred Heart def. Coppin State, 12-4
Jordan Hamberg, Mike Dorcean, Brian Nicolas and
Nathan Burdette all had two-hit games while Dorcean and Burdette also drew walks and scored a run. Burdette also doubled and was credited with an RBI to lead the Eagles offense.
Nico Felber got his first starting nod of the season and gave up just two earned runs on four hits in 7.0 innings while striking out three.
John Neeld thew the eighth inning before
Giovanni Canales finished the ninth.
Felber retired the first ten batters of the game before Sacred Heart scored in the fourth on a fielding error with two outs despite getting just one hit. The Pioneers added a pair of runs in the fifth and scored another unearned run in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead.
Sacred Heart erupted for seven runs in the eighth before Neeld got a strikeout to end the inning.
Burdette led off the bottom of the eighth with a double before coming home as
Josh Hankins beat out an infield single before the throw got by the first baseman.
The Pioneers plated another run in the ninth before CSU scored three in its final at-bat with RBI coming from Burdette and
Bryce Thompson. An error also allowed
Corey Miley to score after he singled earlier in the frame.
Game 2: Sacred Heart def. Coppin State, 11-3
Bryce Thompson went 3-for-4 including his first career home run while
Jordan Hamberg and
Brian Nicolas each had a pair of hits.
Brett Curran also recorded a hit and drew a pair of walks.
Tyler Nichol went just 1.1 innings of work before
Christian Pareja had a great relief outing, giving up just three runs over the next 6.0 innings with four strikeouts.
Tim Ruffino also retired a pair of batters before
Rashad Ruff retired all three batters he faced in the ninth.
Sacred Heart got out to an early 1-0 lead before Coppin got out quick with three runs in the bottom of the first. Curran led off the game with a single before scoring on a double from Hamberg. Hamberg then stole third before Thompson took the Pioneers deep over the fence in left field to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
The Pioneers came right back with seven runs on five hits in the second before Pareja got the final two outs of the inning. They also scored one in the third, seventh and eighth to seal the win.
Up Next
The series finale has been moved to Saturday, April 29 at 1:00 pm.
