HANOVER, Md. – Armando (AJ) Hurtado matched a school-record with seven RBI as Coppin State's baseball team run-ruled Mercyhurst, 14-4, in seven innings on Saturday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Eagles improved to 2-8 overall and 2-0 in the NEC while the Lakers fell to 0-9 on the year and 0-2 in league play.
A junior from Riverside, Calif., Hurtado went a perfect 4-for-4, finishing a home run shy of the cycle, while also scoring a run and drawing a pair of walks. Hurtado's seven RBI matched Hall of Famer
Willie Fields, for the most runs batted in by an Eagles player, which was set on March 15, 1985, at Southern Connecticut.
Coppin erupted for a season-high 14 runs on 14 hits with
Pedro Agosto and
Nelson Grajales recording three hits apiece, followed by
Emilio Feliciano with a pair. The Eagles also drew 18 walks which is one off the school-record set at Bowie State on April 11, 1985.
Agosto, who went 3-for-4 with two walks, scored five runs which also matched a CSU single-season record. He is the sixth Eagles player to accomplish this feat and the first since 2016 when
Bryant Miranda and
Jamar Criss did so against FDU.
Dillon Kirksey picked up his first win a CSU uniform, allowing just two earned runs on five hits while striking out six in 6.0 innings of work.
Keith Wallace came in to pitch the seventh and struck out a pair in a scoreless inning.
Coppin struck early and often, scoring five runs in the first inning with Hurtado clearing the bases on a three-run triple to right center to extend the lead to 4-0. Hurtado later scored on a wild pitch.
Mercyhurst got two runs back in the third before
Angel Garcia singled in Agosto in the fourth to make it a 6-2 score. The Lakers took advantage of an error in the fifth in pull within, 6-3, but the Eagles put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in both the fifth and sixth innings before a walk-off walk in the seventh.
Following a one-out walk from
Agustin Murillo, Agosto doubled down the line to put two runners into scoring position. Grajales singled in Murillo, and after Garcia was intentionally walked to load the bases, Hurtado made the Lakers pay with a two-run double to left center which was just out of reach. After a pitching change,
Noah Hogan drew a walk to load the bases, and Garcia scored the final run of the inning on a bases-loaded walk.
A sacrifice fly by Mercyhurst in the sixth cut Coppin's lead to 10-4 before a three-run Eagles half of the inning. Agosto scored the first run on a wild pitch before RBIs from Hurtado and
Marcus Sanders. The Eagles nearly made it a ten-run lead after six, but a double play ball cut the inning short.
Wallace struck out the final two batters he faced in the seventh, and the Eagles walked it off as Hurtado drew a bases-loaded walk, allowing Agosto to score the final run.
The same two teams will close out the series at 12 pm on Sunday, March 8 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
