HANOVER, Md. – Reagan Rivera was dominant on the mound in his five innings, but Coppin State's baseball team fell to VMI, 15-2, on Friday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagles fell to 1-2 on the year while the Keydets remain undefeated at 5-0.
Rivera allowed no earned runs on just one hit and two walks while striking out a career-high ten batters on the day. He struck out the side in both the first and second innings with an unearned run crossing the plate in the first. Rivera also struck out two in the third inning and punched out one more in both the fourth and fifth before being relieved due to his pitch count.
Coppin tied the score at one in its half of the first as
Anthony Divittorio came home on a passed ball. Divittorio led off the inning being hit by a pitch before getting to third on another hits batsman and a bunt single by
Indy Anderson who had a pair of hits to lead the Eagles.
VMI's starting pitcher Caden Plummer gave up an unearned run on hit hits and two walks while striking out 13 in 6.0 innings of work. The Keydets bullpen struck out four in the final three innings while allowing just one run on one hit and a walk.
Helped by 15 walks and 14 stolen bases, VMI retook the lead with two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh, four in the eighth and five in the ninth.
Coppin was able to get a run on the board in the eighth on an RBI single by
Bryce Thompson, driving in
Samuel Nieves from second after he walked and advanced on a wild pitch.
Following Rivera,
Keith Wallace (0-1) retired one batter before
Brandon Stephens threw a pair of innings, giving up three earned runs with two strikeouts.
Jaedin Hurd and
Tyrone Lake also struck out a batter in their appearances.
The Eagles and Keydets resume their three-game series on Saturday, February 22 in a 12 pm first pitch at Joe Cannon Stadium.
