SALISBURY, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team narrowly edged out a win and suffered a narrow defeat in Saturday's (April 6) doubleheader with Coppin State. The Hawks won the first game, 3-2, before falling 5-4 in the second game.
Marcus Brown (Silver Spring, Maryland) delivered the go-ahead RBI in game one with his patience. With two down and the bases loaded, Brown waited on a 3-1 count. Branden Redfern's pitch landed outside the strike zone, and Chris Allen (Suffolk, Virginia) came into score.
Brown also used his speed to score in the second inning. He took advantage of a pickoff of Peter Jamieson, Jr. (Carlton, Pennsylvania) to steal home plate. Jamieson reached on a fielder's choice to score Carson Davis (Oakboro, North Carolina) for The Shore's third run.
Coppin State tied the game on a two run single from Justin Banks in the fifth, but that was all they could muster off Hawks starter Dwayne Marshall (Piscataway, New Jersey). The junior posted 10 strikeouts, a new career high. That number brings his total to 52, highest on the team by a healthy margin.
Marshall was given a no-decision due to the late comeback. Chris Sanders (Pocomoke City, Maryland) came on in relief for his second win, and Cory Poulsen (Bel Air, Maryland) picked up his third save.
Game two saw the Hawks constantly play catch up to the Eagles. Coppin State scored in the second for a 1-0 lead. Blake Coleman (Woodbridge, Virginia) tied the contest with a sacrifice fly in the third. Two more Eagle runs would cross in the fourth, but Tyler Woodward (Gaithersburg, Maryland) responded with a RBI double in the bottom half of the frame.
The turning point came in the eighth. With the bases loaded and Johnny Franco (Hackettstown, New Jersey) got Erik Crossman to pop up. However the ball landed in left-center as the Hawks defense miscommunicated on the catch. Two more runs would score for a 5-2 Coppin lead.
Those runs proved crucial when The Shore came back with RBI grounders from Allen and Woodward. But that was as close as the Hawks would get.
The loss spoiled a gutsy effort from Marty Tolson, Jr. (Stafford, Virginia). The junior went seven strong frames of two earned run ball with three strikeouts.
Woodward, Devynn Hancock (Salisbury, Maryland), Dillon Oxyer (Pasadena, Maryland), Brian Cordell (Pasadena, Maryland) and Nick Roets (Charlotte, North Carolina) all had multi-hit games in either game one or two.
Both teams compete in the rubber match Sunday (April 7) at 1 p.m. at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
