SALISBURY, Maryland – For the fifth time this year, the Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team split a doubleheader with a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponent – this time with visiting Coppin State University. The Hawks (11-24, 10-9 MEAC) took game one 3-1 with the Eagles (14-22, 10-9 MEAC) taking game two 7-0.
 
Noah Covington won game one, running his streak of complete games to four, it being his nation leading fifth overall, while Derrick Rabb Jr. took the loss in his start.
 
"I thought we played really well in game one, I don't think we played that much poorer in game two, we just didn't hit the ball well," head coach Brian Hollamon said. "It's hard to win a doubleheader – we played well the last two games and won them both, this third game we didn't play as well."
 
Game One
 
Covington was dominate on the mound from the start of the game, striking out three straight Eagles with 15 total pitches – the exact number of pitches that Hollamon likes to see from his pitchers each inning.
 
"He's throwing really well," Hollamon said.
 
In the bottom of the second Marcus Brown got the Hawks on the board with his 19^th RBI of the season, driving in Ryan Howe from second. Howe reached by walking to lead off the inning and then advancing on Brantley Cutler groundout during a hit-and-run. Brown slapped a hard-hit single to second to get the early lead.
 
The Hawks were then able to take advantage of small Coppin mistakes in the third when Andrew Revels and Dillon Oxyer walked to lead off the inning to put runners on. With one out, Howe hit into what would have been a double play, but Coppin second baseman Corey Miley airmailed the throw to first, putting Revels across the plate.
 
There was a hiccup by the Shore in the fourth, when Covington allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning and then a passed ball put both runners in scoring position. Coppin first baseman Sebastien Sarabia then hit a sacrifice fly to put an unearned run on the board to make it 2-1.
 
With the bases loaded in the fifth the Hawks were able to get an insurance run when Howe hit into a double play to short.
 
Heading to the seventh with the 3-1 lead, Covington came out to Enter Sandman to finish out his complete game. An Eagle reached on a hard-hit ball right back to the Seaford native and reached second on a passed ball, but Covington didn't fold with his season high eighth strikeout to confirm the win.
 
Game Two
 
The Hawks couldn't seem to get much going in the second game with their 7-0 loss either in the field or the batter's box, only putting up three hits and giving up six earned.
 
Despite not picking up his first batted out until the fourth out of the game due to poor Coppin base running, Rabb kept the Eagles in check until the top of the fourth. When the bases were loaded and Rabb was running out of steam due to a high pitch count he walked in an Eagle to put the visitors up 1-0. A two-out single by Wellington Balsley to right drove in two more runs but an errant throw from right ended up clearing the bases for Coppin.
 
"We did some really good things in the game however right there in the fourth we threw the ball away and gave away basically three runs on one hit," Hollamon said.
 
In the fifth Caden Parker came in to relieve Rabb but fell victim to the bats of Jordan Hamberg and Marcos Castillo, both of whom went long – with Castillo also driving in a man on first to make it 7-0 in the Eagles favor.
 
Several changes were made by Hollamon in the sixth and seventh, both in the field and as pinch hitters, but it didn't provide the spark the Hawks needed to get back in the game.
 
Saturday Single
 
The final game of the series will be played on Saturday (April 16) starting at noon, with the Hawks expected to see Hamberg on the hill. Hamberg, the two-way player in the discussion for Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year, leads the Eagles in both average and home runs, as well as ERA and strikeouts. Last time the Hawks saw Hamberg on the bump the sophomore turned in 6.2 innings while striking out 13, scattering five hits and just one walk.
 
Follow along with the action on Twitter via @eshawksbase.