PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland – The University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team and Coppin State have seen each other more than any other teams in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this season, facing off twelve times over the course of the spring – Thursday (May 19) will make it thirteen with the teams to play in the first round of the conference tournament at 3:30 p.m. in Norfolk, Virginia.
The Eagles (21-27, 17-13 MEAC) hold a two-game advantage over the Hawks (16-35, 15-18 MEAC) during three four-game series. Coppin will be the home team, holding the two seed over the Hawks in third.
It will be the first conference tournament for the Shore since 2018 where they dropped the two games played.
Coppin Clout
Placing nine players on the first-team All-MEAC list and holding the top seed until the final weekend of the regular season, eyes will be on the Eagles to see if they can live up to the expectations held for most of the spring. In addition to having nine honorees on the first team, the Eagles also had pitcher of the year Jordan Hamberg and rookie of the year Joshua Hankins named.
Hamburg has been dominant, both on the mound and at the plate for the Eagles, leading the team in both OPS and ERA, seeing the field in 39 games either at starting pitcher, designated hitter or first base. Hamberg was second in the conference in AVG to player of the year, Delaware shortstop Trey Paige, and third in the conference in ERA to the Hawks own
Noah Covington and Delaware State's Peter Carreca – during in-conference play he trailed the Shore's
Evan Nibblett by nearly half a run.
Hankins was a defensive stud at short for Coppin but had a batting average more than .030 points less against conference opponents as the season wore on – he was the pivot on 23 double plays for the Eagles, leading the conference.
Second baseman Corey Miley showed a strong ability to get on base, leading the conference with a .516 OBP and finished sixth with 10 doubles. In the last series against the Hawks he took more at-bats as a designated hitter with Tyler Lloyd manning second.
In the pen the Eagles have called upon Justin Johnson as the main high leverage man, picking up just two starts to eleven appearances, earning first team honors as a reliever. Johnson kept opposing batters to a .209 batting average.
It will have been eleven days since Coppin has played a game to the Hawks six, with their series against Norfolk State being cancelled the last weekend of the regular season. The last two games played before that were losses to regular season conference champions Delaware State.
Hopeful Hawks
After the most wins since the 2016 season, the Shore is confident in continuing the climb to be the top squad in the MEAC. Five Hawks were named to the second-team All-MEAC list, the most ever for the school.
Leading the way for the Hawks have been starters and Seaford, Delaware natives Covington and Nibblett. Covington was one of the most consistent pitchers in the conference, not missing a single start until the final series of the regular season and leading the nation in complete games – he enters the tournament with a 3.63 ERA, leading the conference with six wins and a conference high 69.1 innings pitched. Nibblett has an in-conference best 3.00 ERA and is second in batting average against to just
Cameron Bratton, who has been pitching some of his best stuff the past six weeks. Both Covington and Nibblett have walked just six conference opponents.
Despite not being listed as an All-MEAC player, few in the conference have been as deadly at the plate as catcher/designated hitter
Ryan Howe, who has not missed a game since the opening weekend against Longwood. Howe ranks top ten in the conference in multiple categories, including average, hits, home runs and RBIs.
A trio of elder statesmen in
Brantley Cutler,
Brian Cordell and
Dillon Oxyer have also been steady as they come for the Hawks. Cutler leading the team in doubles, Cordell patrolling any spot in the outfield he's asked of while leading the team in runs scored and Oxyer being the cornerstone of the defense at short with a rocket of an arm to make plays from deep.
Leadoff man
Andrew Revels was unable to qualify for awards due to a few missed games early in the season but led the team in on-base and will be asked of to wear opposing pitchers down while manning the hot corner.
In the pen
Blake Rebstock has been solid for the Hawks, his last appearance against Coppin he pitched 5.1 innings without giving up a run, keeping the Shore in the game and giving him a win. Splitting time on the left side of the infield and as a reliever,
Riley Horner led the team in batting average against over his five appearances against MEAC foes with a .200.
Behind the plate, freshman
Kyle Cincinnati has grown exponentially over the season where he was thrown into the fire of platooning with Howe. The youngster Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania picked up three straight rookie of the week awards and hit his first collegiate home run against Delaware State in the final regular season series of the spring. He's slashing .259/.414/.352 as a true freshman, the best rookie in-conference line in the MEAC.
MEAC Musings
The Hawks will be playing the second game on Thursday, with the first being between top seed Delaware State against fourth seed and host Norfolk State – they also have met twelve times like the Hawks and Eagles, with the Hornets holding an 8-4 lead over the spring.
On Friday (May 20) three games will be played, with the winners on Thursday facing off at noon, the losers at 3:30 p.m. in an elimination game and then a second elimination game following at 7 p.m. between the winner of the nooner and loser of the midday game. Thursday will have no games streamed aside from LiveStats hosted by Norfolk State, Friday will be streamed on HBCUGo and Saturday's championship both on HBCUGo and the MEAC Digital Sports Network on YouTube.
Norfolk State took the MEAC Tournament last season, Coppin is looking for its first since 1995 and Delaware State the first since 1989. The Hawks have never won the tournament, appearing just once in the championship round – 2006.
Follow this weekend's action on Twitter via @ESHawksBase.
