Box Score (St. Peter's) l Box Score (Richmond)

RICHMOND, Virginia - Thanks in large part to a burst of offense late in game one, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) baseball team split a doubleheader between two different teams Saturday. The Hawks took the first game over Saint Peter's, 17-5, before being blanked 15-0 by Richmond in the second game.

Freshman Joseph NiCastro (New Market, Maryland) led the hit parade for UMES (3-3) with four hits over two games. Both he and sophomore Jessey Valdez (Dorchester, Massachusetts) led the Hawks with three RBI's apiece. Senior Mike Escanilla (Waldorf, Maryland) swiped three bags to bring his season total to five.

On the pitching side, sophomore Toby Hoskins (North East, Maryland) was effective in his second straight start, going six innings and giving up three earned runs with four strikeouts. Junior Jason Marquez (Glendale, California) picked up his first win as a Hawk in relief.

"Pitching was great. Toby gave us six strong innings of work and kept us in the game until we were about to score a bunch late." said Hawks head coach John O'Neil.

UMES bounced out of the gate in the opening contest, with a two RBI single from Valdez scoring Escanilla and junior Jordan Martin (Atlanta, Georgia) in the first. After Saint Peter's (1-2) countered with a run in the bottom half of the first, the Hawks responded in the third with another Valdez RBI single and a sacrifice fly from junior Skylar Murray (Georgetown, Delaware) pushing the lead to 4-1.

Another run was tacked on in the fourth, but the Peacocks rallied in the fifth via a Hawks error, an RBI groundout and a single to knock in a third run. A fourth run knotted the score at five all.

That's when the Hawks' offense stormed back to overwhelm the Peacocks. Two walks and an error loaded the bases, and NiCastro plated two with a single. Another walk loaded the bases once more, and junior Justin Somerville (New Windsor, Maryland) wore a pitch to allow another run to cross. A Martin groundout pushed to score to 9-5.

But the Hawks were not even close to finished, as junior Dallas Culotta (Princess Anne, Maryland) and sophomore Jamison Trower (Chesterfield, Virginia) led off the ninth with doubles. Senior Connor Breslin (Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania) and NiCastro then scored both runners with RBIs. This was the sparkplug to an eight run inning, with two RBI hits coming from sophomore Grayson Trower (Chesterfield, Virginia), Culotta and Jamison Trower. A quick bottom of the ninth followed, and the Hawks won going away.

"We were able to get timely hits throughout the batting order today." said O'Neil. "Hitters made the adjustments from yesterday."

However, the Hawks' offense would elude them against a tough Richmond squad. The host Spiders led off the game with a home run and maintained that pace throughout the game. Another round tripper in the first gave the home team a 3-0 lead.

Freshman Zach Mills (Parksley, Virginia) was not as fortunate in his second collegiate start. He surrendered six earned runs over three innings before giving way to senior Will Turley (Greensboro, Maryland), who did not fare any better.

Richmond (4-1) scored in every inning, including six in the sixth on the way to a 15-0 victory.

"Richmond outplayed us in all aspects of the game." said O'Neil. "Today they were the better team. The beautiful thing is that we get to play them again tomorrow."

And tomorrow is just a day away. The series finale will take place in Richmond at 2:00p.m. Sunday.