TEANECK, N.J. – Coppin State's baseball team was outscored, 13-12 in a loss to FDU on Sunday afternoon at Naimoli Complex. The Eagles fell to 2-13 on the year and 2-4 in the NEC while the Knights improved to 8-7 overall and 5-1 in league play.
Armando (AJ) Hurtado went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and two RBI while
Pedro Agosto and
Angel Garcia both had a pair of hits. Agosto (four) and Garcia (three) combined to drive in seven runs and
Noah Hogan scored three times while recording a hit and three walks.
Aaden Lopez struck out six batters while allowing five runs over the first 3.0 innings before giving way to
Nicco Holland who gave up a run while striking out two batters.
Justin Ritz was charged with three earned runs over the next 2.1 innings, and he was followed by
Keith Wallace who gave up a pair of runs in 1.1 innings.
Jake Cumming and
Dillon Kirksey also came on in relief and retired a batter apiece.
For the third-straight game of the series, Coppin took an early lead with RBI from Agosto and Garcia in the first. FDU responded with three runs in its half of the first before the Eagles retook the lead at 4-3 with two runs in the third on an RBI single from Agosto and sacrifice fly by
Brennan Barczai.
The lead switched hands once again in the fourth on a three-run bottom half by the Knights before Agosto connected for another RBI single in the fifth to cut FDU's lead to 6-5. Hurtado added an RBI single in the sixth before FDU appeared to break the game open with a three-run sixth to extend its advantage to 11-6.
After both teams went scoreless in the seventh, the Eagles erupted for six runs on three hits in the eighth to go up, 12-11. The six runs were Coppin's most in any inning this season. CSU started it off with three walks before Hurtado was plunked with the bases loaded to bring in the first run. Agosto was also drilled to drive in another before Garcia,
Nelson Grajales and
Marcus Sanders had three-straight RBI base hits.
FDU responded with two runs to regain the lead before Coppin went down in order in the ninth.
The Eagles travel to play Villanova on Tuesday, March 17 at 3:25 pm before hosting Maryland Eastern Shore for a three-game NEC series on March 20-22. Friday's game is set for 3 pm, followed by 2 pm on Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday.
