HANOVER, Md. – Damon Gaither recorded a walk-off single to deep centerfield, lifting the Coppin State baseball team its first victory of the season, a 13-12 win over Saint Peter's on Sunday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagle are 1-5 on the year while the Peacocks moved to 2-5.
With
Anthony Divittorio on third after his game-tying triple, the outfield played in and Gaither found a spot just over the backtracking centerfielder's glove for the game-winning hit. Divittorio easily cruised home as the Eagles bench mauled Gaither after he touched first base.
Entering its final at-bat trailing, 12-11 after the Peacocks scored once in their half of the ninth,
Brody Black led off the frame with a single to center field before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Divittorio laced a shot past the first baseman down the first base line to drive in Black and tie the score, and the ball rolled all the way to the outfield fence as Divittorio extended the hit into a triple.
Kai Holm, Daniel Moore and
Bryce Thompson all had a pair of hits and combined to drive in five runs with Holm and Moore having two apiece. Moore doubled twice also drew a walk and both Divittorio and
Chris Marte had a pair of RBIs. Marte also went deep for his first career home run.
Christian Pareja got the start on the mound and gave up seven runs over the first 3.0 innings.
Jaedin Hurd was effective in his 2.1 innings of relief, allowing three runs, before giving way to
Reagan Rivera who earned the win after being charged just two runs over the final 3.2 innings. The trio combined for nine strikeouts as well.
Saint Peter's six scored seven runs over the first four innings before Marte's two-run home run put Coppin on the board in the bottom of the fourth. The Eagles stayed hot in the inning, scoring eight runs on six hits with Thompson and
Sam Nieves collecting RBI on back-to-back hits. Holm drove in both Nieves and
Ethan Acevedo with a single through left side, and Moore capped it off with a down the left field line, scoring Divittorio and Holm.
The Peacocks regained the lead with two runs in the fifth and added another run in the sixth to go up, 10-8.
Coppin got one run back in its half of the sixth with Marte scoring from third as Moore reached on a fielding error by the left fielder.
SPU scored a run on two hits in the seventh, extending its lead back to two runs at 11-9 but CSU tied it back up as Divittorio as hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Holm followed with a groundball double play which allowed Nieves to score.
Rivera threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning for Coppin, but the Eagles stranded a pair of runners in the bottom half, keeping the game tied going into the ninth.
Up Next: Coppin hosts George Washington University in a 3 pm start on Wednesday, February 28 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
