SALISBURY, Maryland – For the second time this season, the Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team went to extra innings against Coppin State University and once again the Hawks (10-23, 9-8 MEAC) prevailed over their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rivals at Perdue Stadium on Thursday (April 14)..
 
After looking to have the game out of hand after five Eagles (13-21, 9-8 MEAC) runs to come back and take the lead in the eighth and ninth innings, the Shore grinded out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game then used a walk-off single by Derrick Mayes II in the tenth to start Easter weekend with a 7-6 win.
 
"Guys could have folded easily and they didn't – we executed things that we needed to," head coach Brian Hollamon said. "I'm good with how it happened, was very happy for Derrick Mayes and for him to get that hit."
 
Coppin was able to get an early lead in the first inning when Cameron Bratton allowed a leadoff walk and then a double by Josh Hankins to drive in Wellington Balsley.
 
Bratton settled down over the next two frames and allowed his offense to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third, starting with a Nick Roets walk to start the offense. Roets made his way to third off a Mayes sacrifice bunt and then a wild pitch before being driven in by Dillon Oxyer singling to left field to tie the game up.
 
The next batter, Bryan Widdowson, smacked a hard single himself to put runners on the corners for the ever-dangerous Ryan Howe. Hitting his second double in as many days, Howe put Oxyer and Widdowson across the plate to give the Hawks a two-run advantage over the visitors.
 
Much was quiet on both sides until Bratton was relieved by Blake Rebstock who put two runners on with a walk and hit-by-pitch. On a double steal attempt, the throw from home to third went flying into left field to allow the first runner, Matt Day, to cross the plate and the throw home from left was off to let Josh Hankins score the tying third run.
 
Two more errors in the top of the ninth helped turn the Coppin rally into a lead when a muffed catch at first put the first runner on during a routine play, followed by a steal and error had Brian Nicolas only 90-feet away from home. A simple Miley single would drive Nicolas in, then Day followed with a home run, giving the Eagles a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
 
"The only mistakes we made were all defensively and they all happened at the same time," Hollamon said.
 
Refusing to falter, Brian Cordell drew a walk from behind in the count to start the Hawk comeback, then scored from first when Nick Roets hit a double to left field to get the game within two runs. Mayes drew a walk in the next at-bat and Revels laid down a perfect sacrifice in the next to put runners in scoring position. On a one-one count, Oxyer hit his second RBI single of the day, this one driving in both runners on to tie the game at six-all.
 
In to give the Hawks more of a fighting chance, Caden Parker sat down the Eagles in order during the tenth inning, starting off with a swinging strikeout, followed by a foul out where Roets dashed from second base and then helped get it done with his athleticism on a 3-1 following a phenomenal stop by Marcus Brown.
 
With the game up for grabs, Brantley Cutler took a hit-by-pitch to start off the tenth and was pinch ran for by the speedy Jason Brown. Marcus Brown then would ground out to short on what would be a double play against any other runner in the conference, but Jason Brown reached second and then immediately stole third. Cordell walked as the next batter, but a strikeout by Roets put two outs on the board and threatend to cut the Hawks chances.
 
"JB came in and ran for Brantley and because he can run, they would have probably turned two on that play," Hollamon said. "Then he steals third to get us in good position. Him being at third with one out puts a lot of pressure on them. He made some things happen."
 
Coming back from injury, Mayes saw the pitch he wanted to close the game out on, hitting a single to right field that was just feet from being foul, to drive in Jason Brown from home and solidifying himself as one of the clutch hitters on the squad by winning the game.
 
"I'm just coming off of injury so just to come back and come through for my team is a good feeling," Mayes said. "I wasn't trying to do too much, just put the ball in play – I knew if I put the ball in play JB was going to have a chance to score and that's what happened."
 
As the first game is in the books, the Hawks and Eagles have three more meetings scheduled before Easter Sunday with a doubleheader on Friday (April 15) starting at noon and the getaway game on Saturday (April 16) also beginning at noon.
 
The Friday doubleheader will be streamed on Delaware Sports Media with links on easternshorehawks.com for each.
 
Follow the action on Twitter via @eshawksbase.