GLEN BURNIE, Maryland – It was a fight from the start of the first game against Coppin State for the Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team on Saturday (April 30), splitting a doubleheader to hold ground in second place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
 
The Eagles (20-25, 16-11 MEAC) took game one 4-3 with a walk off, while the Hawks (15-29, 14-13 MEAC) fought back from a three-run deficit to win 5-3 in extra innings at the Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie.
 
"The pitchers I thought did a great job today, all the way across the board," head coach Brian Hollamon said. "We hit some balls really well, we just gotta score some runs when the opportunities there."
 
Game One
 
Coppin State was able to stake an early lead in the first game of the day, stringing together three straight singles in the bottom of the first to load the bases against starter Noah Covington. The Seaford native was able to induce a double play to second, but Wellington Balsley cross the plate for the home team.
 
The Hawks were able to put together a solid third inning to grab three runs and the lead, starting with a walk by Jason Brown to start the inning – then quickly stealing second. Brian Cordell and Andrew Revels both drew walks to load the bases before Nick Roets struck out swinging but a wild pitch put Brown across for the first run.
 
Hitting his first of two singles on the afternoon, Dillon Oxyer worked the count full and knocked a hit to the left field wall for the Hawks. Oxyer grabbed two bags on the hit, pushing both Cordell and Revels across the plate to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
 
"Dillon Oxyer had a great offensive day today, gappers – he smoked the ball," Hollamon said.
 
Covington held the Eagles at bay until the sixth inning when Jordan Hamberg swung on the first pitch of his at-bat with one out, putting the ball over the right field fence to have Coppin within a run.
 
Down by a run in the bottom of the seventh, Coppin was able to load the bases with a pair of singles sandwiched over a double to put pressure on Covington. With a hard hit single up the middle by Balsley, the Eagles were able grab two runs for a walk off against the Hawks.
 
"I thought Noah threw the ball extremely well, he was the minimal number of pitches and was right there," Hollamon said. "The problem is we needed to score more runs when we had the opportunity, we had a ton of guys on base and we need to push those guys across when the opportunity is there."
 
Game Two
 
The Shore had to battle back in the second game of the afternoon as Coppin was able to scatter a few runs through the early part of the game against starter Derrick Rabb, Jr. after two solid innings to start. In the bottom of the third Matt Day was able to get the Eagles on the board with a home run to left field.
 
In the fifth inning the Eagles were able to grab two more runs by taking advantage of an error on a pickoff throw to first following a walk of Landen Argabright with one out, putting him on second. Day then singled to put runners on the corners and the Balsley hit a sacrifice fly to give the Eagles their second run of the afternoon. With a stolen base to put him on second, Balsley was then driven in by a Tyler Lloyd double down the left field line, making it a 3-0 game.
 
Blake Rebstock would come in for Rabb, shutting down the small Coppin rally and sparking the team to battle back over the next five innings he would pitch. He would strand two Eagles in the bottom of the third to keep the game in reach for the Hawks.
 
"Blake Rebstock was a champ," Hollamon said. "Rabb did a great job to start the game and then Rebstock was perfect."
 
Heading to the top of the seventh, looking at last call, the Hawks began their fight back and would have a tie game to force extras by the end of the frame. Cordell hit a one-out single and Widdowson took a walk to put runners on base for the Hawks with Derrick Mayes II up to bat. Mayes laid down a perfect bunt with the intention of being a sacrifice to move the batters over but used his speed to reach first and the Eagles made an ill-advised throw that was airmailed – scoring Cordell from third and putting two runners in scoring position.
 
"We had a great bunt by Derrick Mayes to put runners in scoring position," Hollamon said.
 
Widdowson used heads up base running when Revels was at-bat, scoring on a wild pitch to get the game within one run and Revels completed the plate appearance with a sacrifice fly to score Mayes, tying the game up at three-all.
 
Rebstock continued to hold the Eagles in check, allowing just two base runners through the rest of the game and kept the Hawks in the game.
 
In the tenth inning and the game still locked up, the Hawks put together a phenomenal offensive performance to take what would be the winning lead. Revels led the inning off with a single and was moved over to second following a Roets sacrifice bunt and then used his speed to move all the way from second to across home plate on a passed ball.
 
"When he's playing the game he's (Revels) always heads up, he's always got something going," Hollamon said. "You can always guarantee he's going to have his head on a swivel, it's just the way he plays – very knowledgeable, very comfortable."
 
Looking to stretch the lead, Ryan Howe came to the plate and hit a no doubt home run over the left field fence to make it a 5-3 game, which would be the final.
 
"Ryan Howe came up big hitting that home run to put us up by two, that was big," Hollamon said.
 
Showing no signs of slowing down, Rebstock sat down the Eagles in order during the bottom of the tenth, sealing the game and giving him his second win of the season.
 
Sunday Changes
 
With incoming rain, the Sunday (May 1) getaway game has been moved to be a breakfast match, with first pitch bumped to 9 a.m. and the location moved to Blandair Park in Columbia, MD to take advantage of the turf field and avoid any adverse field conditions due to the precipitation.
 
Follow the action on Twitter via @eshawksbase.