BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – Coppin State's
Chris Marte and
Liam McCallum swept the Northeast Conference Baseball weekly awards, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon. Marte was named the NEC's Co-Player and Rookie of the Week while McCallum received Pitcher of the Week honors.
A freshman from Englewood, N.J., Marte hit 7-for-14 (.500) with seven runs, two home runs, two doubles and nine RBI as the Eagles went 3-1 last week with a three-game sweep at Norfolk State. Marte opened the week going 1-for-2 with two runs and a pair of walks in a midweek at George Washington before going off against the Spartans.
In Friday's series opener at NSU, Marte went 2-for-5 with three runs, three RBI and a pair of walks. His double in the third inning put Coppin on the board and he hit a two-run home run that gave Coppin the lead. On Sunday, Marte went a perfect 4-for-4 with six RBI while scoring twice and drawing a walk. Marte's three-run home run gave Coppin an early lead and he also added a sacrifice fly and delivered with the game-winning two-run double in the tenth inning before scoring on a wild pitch.
Marte is hitting .245 on the season with a team-high eight doubles to go with four home runs and 19 RBI.
McCallum made a pair of relief appearances in the series at Norfolk State and gave up just one run on three hits while striking out 11 in 6.0 innings of work. A junior from Sydney, Australia, McCallum fanned a pair of batters on Friday before having arguably the best performance of his career on Sunday. In 5.0 innings of relief, he got the victory while allowing just one run on two hits while striking out nine. At one point, McCallum retired ten-straight hitters while striking out the side in both the sixth and tenth innings.
For the year, McCallum is 1-0 with a 7.08 earned run average while striking out 19 batters in 20.1 innings over eight relief appearances.
The Eagles (9-19, 8-10 NEC) head to Towson for a non-conference tilt on Wednesday, April 17 at 3:00 pm, closing out a 12-game road trip. Coppin hosts Maryland Eastern Shore for a three-game NEC series on April 19-21 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
