HANOVER, Md. – Alec Elges allowed just one run in his Coppin State baseball debut, but the Eagles were unable to hold on, falling to Creighton, 9-6 in eight innings on Sunday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. CSU falls to 0-2 on the season while the Blue Jays improved to 2-0.
A junior from Littleton, Colo., Elges gave up just one run on four hits while striking out four over the first 5.0 innings. Elges retired six of the first seven batters he faced and finished his outing by retiring another six of seven with the Eagles leading, 5-1.
Coppin scored four runs in the second, starting with a leadoff home run by
Damon Gaither.
Daniel Moore and
Bryce Thompson followed with singles before
Angel Colon drew a walk to load the bases.
Braylon Watson drove in a run with another walk and
Brody Black added another with an infield single.
After a pitching change,
Kai Holm recorded a sacrifice fly to deep left centerfield, scoring Colon from third. It appeared that Watson also scored from second but he was ruled out at second on an appeal.
Elges got out of third unscathed, fanning a Blue Jay to retire the side, but Creighton got to him with a leadoff home run in the fourth.
Watson led off the fifth inning with a home run, giving the Eagles a four-run lead, and Coppin continued to threaten by loading the bases with a Creighton error and a pair of hit batsmen. However, the visitors escaped further damage before scoring five runs in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.
John Neeld was the third reliever out the bullpen and he entered the game in the seventh after Creighton drew a leadoff walk. Neeld issued a walk but struck out the next two before getting out of the inning with a groundout.
Ricky Jones started the seventh with a pinch-hit single and got to third on a single by
Chris Marte. Coppin tied the score on a wild pitch and pinch-runner
Ethan Acevedo was able to get to third on a passed ball with no outs. Once again, CSU was unable to capitalize further and the game went into extra innings.
Creighton plated three runs on three hits in the eighth to go up, 9-6. Colon started an Eagles rally with a one-out double and Black drew a walk to send the tying run to the plate, but Coppin came up short.
Eight different Eagles recorded hits for the Eagles with Black, Colon and Watson all reaching safely multiple times with walks. Colon was also plunked by a pitch, as was Moore.
Clay Thompson was charged with three earned runs on two hits and a walk while
Reagan Rivera gave up two more while striking out two in an inning of work. Neeld took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out three in 2.0 innings.
Up Next: Coppin returns to the diamond on Tuesday, February 20 when it travels to George Mason for a 2:00 pm start.
