May 9, 2010
Box Score
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team split a doubleheader on Senior Day at Hawks Stadium, winning 10-5 before falling 8-5, Sunday.
UMES (8-40) used a six-run eighth inning to erase a 5-4 deficit in the opener but could not complete a late-inning rally in the nightcap.
Playing his final game in Princess Anne, Phil Vaughn (Clinton, Md.), one of five senior honored prior to first pitch, finished the day 5-for-9 with two doubles, two steals and three runs scored. He was 3-for-5 with a double, run and an RBI in the victory.
NCCU relief pitcher Jeremy Tillet (0-1) allowed four straight Hawks to reach base in the decisive eighth inning of Game 1 to tie the game, 5-5. Nick Wiggins (Littleton, Colo.) started things off with a single and pinch runner Elliott Arrington (Largo, Md.) moved to second when Tillet bobbled a ground ball in front of the mound hit by Lorenzo Christy (Germantown, Md.). Vaughn and Tre-Von Johnson (East New Market, Md.) then each beat out but singles on consecutive at-bats for the first run of the inning.
With Jeff Citero on the mound and runners on second and third, Bryan Chaikowsky (Bethlehem, Pa.) plated the go-ahead tally with a sacrifice fly to center field. The Hawks then made it a two-run game with a perfectly executed double steal of home and second by Vaughn and Johnson, respectively, followed by a one-out two-run double by Shaquille Bagwell (Atlantic, Va.) that brought Elliott Alston (Littleton, Colo.) and Johnson in.
Luis Mena (Cape Coral, Fla.) added an RBI single to center to make for the final margin.
Senior right-hander Cameron Zimmerman (Harrisburg, Pa.) earned the win, holding the NCCU offense at bay for three innings. He improved to 1-3 on the season, allowing five hits and with one strikeout to get starter Karim Gonzalez (Mexico City, Mexico) off the hook. Gonzalez threw six innings, surrendering five runs (four earned) on 11 hits and two walks and two strikeouts.
The Eagles, who closed their season with a record of 3-44, jumped out to 5-0 lead in the top of the third inning with the help of five hits and two UMES errors. Nate Smith shot a 3-2 pitch through the left side, scoring Akeem Hood and Justin Goodson, to give NCCU a 2-0 advantage. A pair of Smith steals and throwing error gave the visitors a three-run lead and Anthony Wilson had an RBI single and scored on an Edward Pegues groundout.
The Hawks' comeback began in the bottom of the third. Johnson singled to leadoff the inning and Chaikowsky walked for first and second with no outs when Alston double to left to get UMES on the board at 5-1. Bagwell then bounced a ball to Wilson at shortstop that he could not field cleanly, allowing Chaikowsky to score from third to make it 5-2.
UMES added single runs in the fourth and fifth off of Drew Robinson to setup the big eighth inning.
Wiggins was 3-for-3 with a run scored while four players had two hits led by Bagwell who batted 2-for-5 with a run and three RBIs.
Etienne Farquharson and Smith each had three hits for the Eagles as they outhit the Hawks, 16-15, in the opener.
Left-hander Joseph Cobb (1-7) threw a strong 6.1 innings in the second game to pick up the win. He surrendered 10 hits and five runs (four earned) while fanning five and walking our before Brandon Oatis got he last two outs for his first save.
NCCU led from start to finish, scoring twice in the first and four times in the fifth to hold a 6-3 lead heading to the sixth. The visitors pushed two more runs across in the top of the sixth before UMES got RBI singles from Alston and Bagwell to make it an 8-5 game. Oatis came on and induced a 4-6-3 double-play ball from Lucas Koenig (Berlin, Md.) to end the game.
The doubleheader marked the final home games for Vaughn, Arrington, Zimmerman, Jervonta' Wright (Salisbury, Md.) and Carl Huber (Mount Airy, Md.).
The Hawks will now turn their attention to their final regular-season game at Old Dominion on Tuesday at 3 p.m. UMES will also have postseason in its future as it qualified for the MEAC Tournament as the sixth seed at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Fla., on May 20-23 by virtue of Norfolk State's three-game sweep of Florida A&M Saturday and Sunday.
