Box Score March 12, 2016 Box Score | Photo Gallery 
LEXINGTON, Virginia - The Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team rebounded nicely in their second game of a three game series with the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Keydets. Unfortunately, the rebound was not enough to claim victory and the Hawks ultimately fell due to a late VMI rally, with a final of 7-3.
The team will get one more chance to avoid the sweep on Sunday. Due to impending weather, the contest will be moved up and played at 11:00a.m. on VMI's campus.
Sophomore Scott Bean (Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania) took the loss, but had his best start in the early season, going five innings and giving up three runs, with a pair of strikeouts. Fellow sophomore Chris Melrath (Rising Sun, Maryland) and senior Devin Repine (Salisbury, Maryland) contributed in relief.
On the offense, senior Mike Escanilla (Waldorf, Maryland) led the way with a 3-for-4 afternoon and an RBI single. Junior Jordan Martin (Atlanta, Georgia) collected two hits and scored once and freshman Tom Summers (West Decatur, Pennsylvania) blasted his first collegiate home run, a blazing line drive down the left field line.
"Our guys played well today." said Hawks coach John O'Neil. "We had a tough call and a tough hop in the 7th, but that's' baseball. We can only control our effort and hustle, and we did a good job with that today."
That tough call came with the Hawks down just 3-2. In the top half of the inning, junior Justin Somerville (New Windsor, Maryland) tried his hand with a bunt. While his bunt was nice, the Keydets' third baseman made a good defensive effort to produce a close call, which went VMI's way.
The judgment would stand, and with one out and one on, Melrath induced a ground ball that looked like it would produce a double play. However, the ball took a sandlot-style hop, glancing off and over Martin's glove. After one Keydet scored on an error, two more came in on a home run to left, giving VMI a 6-2 lead.
Prior to that, VMI scored twice on a single and a double in the second to lead 2-0. But the Hawks responded with a furious two out rally in which five straight players reached base. Escanilla scored sophomore Isaiah Chambers (Bowie, Maryland) with a single and sophomore Jessey Valdez (Dorchester, Massachusetts) plated home Martin to tie the score.
In the bottom of the same inning, the leadoff VMI hitter hit a smash to center, giving his team the lead for good. An insurance sacrifice fly by the Keydets and Summers' late inning home run added into the final score.
Senior J.P. Black (Elkton, Maryland) is scheduled to be the series finale starter for the Hawks Sunday morning.
