DOVER, Del. – Keith Gardner hit a pair of home runs and drove in six runs to lead the Coppin State baseball team to a 12-7 NEC victory at Delaware State on Friday afternoon at Bob Reed Field. The Eagles improved to 16-30 overall and 9-16 in league play.
A freshman from Franklinton, N.C., Gardner hit both of his home runs in the fifth, blast a two-run homer to dead center to pull CSU to within, 4-3, before breaking the game wide open with an opposite field grand slam to right field to give the Eagles a 10-4 lead.
Josh Hankins, Liam McCallum and
Brian Nicolas also had two hits apiece while combining for four runs, three runs batted in and five walks.
Angel Colon also had a base hit, scored twice and drew a pair of walks.
Marcos Herrand improved to 7-5 on the season, allowing just two runs on eight hits while striking out three in 6.0 innings.
Tim Ruffino, Nico Felber and
Rashad Ruff pitched an inning each in relief with just one earned run between the trio.
Hankins gave Coppin an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first, but the Hornets came right back with a pair of runs in their half of the inning. DSU added a run in both the second and third before the Eagles erupted with a nine-run fifth inning.
Gardner got the fifth inning started with a two-run home run before
Mike Dorcean drove in a run with an RBI single. An error by the left fielder allowed two more runs to score on the knock by Dorcean before Gardner's grand slam later in the inning.
Herrand threw a 1-2-3 fifth inning and struck out a pair in the sixth before Nicolas drove in a run in the seventh. Ruffino allowed just a walk in the seventh and Coppin added another run in the eighth as Nicolas drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 12-4.
An error allowed DSU to score twice in the eighth and the Hornets only got a pair of doubles in the ninth before Ruff forced a pair of popups and struck out the final batter of the game.
Coppin and Delaware State meet in a 12 pm doubleheader on Sunday, May 14. The Eagles close out the regular season with a trip to Mount St. Mary's on May 16 before hosting Norfolk State in a three-game NEC series on May 18-20.
