GREENSBORO, North Carolina — Fielding issues cursed the University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team as the Hawks were swept by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro on Saturday (Mar 7) 16-3 and 8-5 in a doubleheader in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The losses drop The Shore to 4-9 on the season.
Game one of the day was rough all over for The Shore, as errors crippled chances early on with Greensboro capitalizing on five mistakes leading to half of the Spartan runs being unearned.
Marty Tolson, Jr. (Stafford, Virginia) was given the start and was reasonably steady over his 4.1 IP by giving up just four hits to the seven runs scored in his appearance – just two were charged to the senior.
The Shore was able to put up some offense in the sixth inning with a leadoff walk by
Cory Joyce (Levittown, Pennsylvania) and was aided to second on a Greensboro wild pitch.
Brian Cordell (Pasadena, Maryland) came to bat with two outs, running the count to 2-2 before knocking a single to center to give the Hawks their first run of the day.
Two more runs were scored in the eighth, again with the assistance of loose Spartan pitching, this time to load the bases with
Bryan Widdowson (Seaford, Delaware) getting on base first with
Xander Waddell (Crownsville, Maryland) right behind.
Nick Roets (Charlotte, North Carolina) would ground out to score Widdowson,
Devynn Hancock (Salisbury, Maryland) would reach on an error to score Waddell in the next at-bat.
Even with the late push by the Hawks, Greensboro pressed on to score six unanswered before the end of the game, putting minds on game two.
Three straight walks to start the second game of the afternoon to a trio of 'Dena Dudes' in
Andrew Revels (Pasadena, Maryland),
Dillon Oxyer (Pasadena, Maryland) and Cordell gave the Hawks an early advantage over Greensboro. The Shore was able to grab two runs thanks to a pair of sac flies by
Matt Smith (Salisbury, Maryland) and
Marcus Brown (Silver Spring, Maryland) to spot starter
Keith Carpenter (Walled Lake, Michigan) a two-run lead.
Another leadoff walk in the second would put
Avery Tunnell (Dover, Maryland) on base, moving his way to second and then made it home on an error in center during a Revels single, putting the game at 3-0.
Greensboro would begin battling back with a leadoff hit and steal in the third, another single would give the Spartans the first run of game two.
Oxyer was able to pick up two RBI with singles in the fourth and sixth to score Revels and Tunnell, respectively, to keep the Spartans out of the game for a short while.
Taking a one run lead into the eighth would prove to be too small for The Shore as Greensboro was able to score four runs, three unearned, in the bottom of the frame to put the game at 8-5.
Cordell was able to hit a one-out single in the ninth only to be left on, ending the game in favor of the Spartans.
The four-game road series wraps up Sunday (Mar 8) with the first pitch slated for noon, righty
Caleb Walston (Princess Anne, Maryland) and will enter the game with a 4.09 ERA but has allowed just two runs over his last two starts, both going four innings.
