BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – Coppin State's baseball team split a Northeast Conference doubleheader at league-leader LIU on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles won game two, 5-3, after dropping the opener, 7-4 and move to 15-30 overall and 13-13 in the NEC. LIU now stands at 28-20 on the year and 21-5 in league play.
Game 1: LIU def. Coppin State, 7-4
Indy Anderson and
Noah Hogan had four of Coppin's eight hits with multi-hit games. Both scored a run while Hogan was credited with an RBI.
Jobe Olson threw the first 5.0 innings and allowed six runs on six hits with two strikeouts.
Luke Corcoran gave up just one hit and a walk in the final 3.0 innings.
LIU took an early 1-0 lead after the first, which Coppin matched on a sacrifice fly by Hogan in the fourth. The Sharks answered with four in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take a commanding 7-1 lead.
Curtis Battle and
Gavin Grutzmacher drove in runs in the seventh, driving in Hogan and
Pranav Sundar before Corcoran escaped the bottom half unscathed. Following singles from Anderson and Hogan sandwiching a walk by
Brennen Barczai, Anderson scored a run on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to three.
Following a hit batsman, the final five Eagles were retired.
Game 2: Coppin State def. LIU, 5-3
Reagan Rivera and
Justin Ritz combined for the win in game two with Rivera throwing the first 6.1 innings and allowing just three runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts. Ritz picked up his league-leading seventh save, retiring all eight batters he face with a pair of strikeouts.
With his two strikeouts, Rivera tied and then broke the CSU single season record for strikeouts held by
Jordan Hamberg and now has 88 on the season which leads the NEC.
Coppin got out to a quick start with three runs in the first inning.
Gavin Grutzmacher singled to start the game but was forced out on a fielder's choice by
Anthony Divittorio.
Daniel Moore and
Indy Anderson walked to load the bases before a go-ahead single by
Noah Hogan.
Pranav Sundar came up two batters later and delivered a two-run single.
Rivera tied the strikeout record in the second, fanning LIU for the second out of the inning, but gave up a run two innings later which made it a 3-1 score. He fanned the Sharks for the second out of the fifth before LIU added a run later in the frame, making it a one-run deficit.
The Eagles extended their lead back to two in the seventh on a fielder's choice by Moore which allowed Grutzmacher to score. The leadoff man came around to score following a walk, a HBP from Divittorio and an error.
LIU got the run right back in the seventh, which Coppin answered in the ninth on an RBI groundout by
Bryce Thompson. Divittorio scored on the groundball after singles from him, a single by Anderson and a wild pitch.
Up Next
Coppin closes its series at LIU at 12 pm on Sunday, May 11. The Eagles will visit UMBC at 3 pm on May 13 before hosting FDU for a three-game series on May 15-17.
