HANOVER, Md. – Samuel Nieves delivered a walk-off single to center field, lifting the Coppin State baseball team to an 8-7 Northeast Conference victory over Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagles improved to 10-20 overall and 9-10 in the NEC while the Hawks remained winless at 0-31 on the year and 0-16 in league play.
A senior from South Plainfield, N.J., Nieves finished the day 1-for-3 with two runs, an RBI and a pair of walks. Nieves also stole a pair of bases and drew a walk.
Noah Murciano had the best offensive performance of his career, going 4-for-5 with a double while scoring twice.
Anthony Divittorio,
Damon Gaither and
Angel Colon all had multi-hit games as Divittorio and Colon both drove in a pair of runs. Gaither also drove in a run while scoring once and drawing a walk.
Clay Thompson was credited with the win after getting the final two outs of the ninth.
Nico Felber went 7.0 innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits while striking out six.
John Neeld followed Felber and gave up two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings of work.
Trailing, 7-6, going into the bottom of the ninth, Coppin recorded a pair of hits to win the series opener.
Brody Black opened the inning with a walk before advancing to third on a double by Murciano. Divittorio drove in Black for the tying run with a fly ball to deep center field, which also allowed Murciano to get to third with one out. The Hawks elected to intentionally walk both
Kai Holm and Gaither to load the bases, setting up a force at any base, but Nieves lined a shot to center field to drive in Murciano for the game-winner.
Maryland Eastern scored the first four runs of the game with two in the first and third before the Eagles cut the deficit to 4-3 with a three-run third. Gaither started the rally with a one-out single before Nieves was hit by a pitch. A two-out RBI single by
Daniel Moore, along with an error on the center fielder, scored a pair of runs, and Moore came around to score on a single to center field by Colon.
Eastern Shore got one of the runs back in the fourth before the Eagles tied the score at five in the bottom half on RBI base knocks by Divittorio and Gaither. Divittorio's double to left center scored Murciano from second after he led off with a single before reaching second on a wild pitch. Divittorio scored the tying run on Gaither's drive to center field.
Coppin took its first lead of the game in the sixth on a single through the left side by Colon, scoring Nieves, who had walked, stole second and got to third on a flyout by
Chris Marte.
Felber held the Hawks scoreless over his last three innings and retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced. UMES tied the score with a run in the eighth off Neeld and took the lead with another run in the ninth.
Coppin and Eastern Shore resume their three-game series with a 1 pm start on Saturday, April 20 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
