SALISBURY, Maryland – The University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team was able to strike early and hold the lead late against Fairleigh Dickinson University on Sunday, May 7 with a 5-4 win over the Knights to avoid the weekend sweep.
 
With the win, the Hawks move to 16-29 overall and 12-12 in the Northeast Conference, putting the team seventh in the standings behind Merrimack College, who hold the head-to-head tiebreaker for the final tournament position.
 
"It was good to get a win there," interim head coach Shawn Phillips said. "The guys could have folded after the two losses on Friday and Saturday, but that's the way these guys are – they'll fight, they'll keep coming back, just keep putting forth their best effort. I told them I was proud of them, they fought all weekend."
 
Leadoff man Jason Brown drew a walk for the Hawks in the bottom of the first inning and promptly made FDU pay with a stolen base before being moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Derrick Mayes II. With a man in scoring position, Brantley Cutler socked his 45^th RBI of the season with a single to right field, putting the Hawks ahead by a run.
 
The Hawks kept it going by taking advantage of Knight mistakes as Alex McCoy was hit by a pitch, then was moved to second and Cutler third on a passed ball. A balk would move them both another base, getting Cutler across the plate for the 2-0 lead heading into the second inning.
 
"I changed it up a little bit today, put some speed at the top to put pressure on them early and we got some runs early," Phillips said. "We'll see going forward if that's something we're going to do, switch it up a little bit."
 
FDU got two batters in scoring position in the top of the second with no outs with a pair of singles and a stolen base. The Knights didn't need to leave the infield to tie the game up, first on a swinging bunt back to the pitcher for the first run and a sacrifice for the second.
 
Dillon Oxyer and Anders Brown would both work one-out walks in the bottom of the inning to turn the order over for the Hawks, then Jason Brown delivered a hard-hit single to left to put UMES up by one when Oxyer scored. Jason Brown snagged his second stolen base of the game, putting pressure on FDU who went wild on the next pitch, doubling up the Hawks lead when Anders Brown dove into home.
 
The Knights were able to use a few Hawk mistakes in the top of the third to get one back when a fielder's choice would turn into an error that put runners on the corners. A passed ball resulted in an attempted thrown down to second base drew the Knight runner from third home would lead to FDU cutting the UMES lead to 4-3.
 
An important bounce back run was scored by the Hawks in the bottom of the third by McCoy when he led off with a single and was driven in from second after advancing on a Kyle Cincinnati walk, then Oxyer singling.
 
Starter Evan Nibblett continued his strong outing through the next four innings of work, giving up a solo shot to right field in the seventh, but would end his day with seven innings pitched, four runs against – three earned – with six strikeouts and no walks allowed.
 
Porter Braddy was called in for the hold against the Knights and the young lefty came through, using 16 pitches in the eighth inning to strike out two and induce an easy flyout to left. Braddy was tagged with the loss on Friday against FDU, but Phillips liked what he saw out of the lefties that afternoon in game one.
 
"He had success with them on Friday, so that was in the back of my mind," Phillips said. "(Kyle) Speas and him had some success with those guys, that was just my gut feeling, so I went with my gut, and he pitched really well there in the eighth."
 
Although he was tagged with the loss against FDU on Saturday (May 6) after three innings of relief work, his season high, it was no doubt that closer Caden Parker would enter the ninth with the one run lead. After two groundouts, Parker left the last Knight holding his bat out like a sword with a swinging strikeout and his ninth save of the season.
 
"Caden pitching back-to-back days, it was good to see him come in and he got the first one and made good pitches to the second and third guy," Phillips "I'm going to keep going to him, he's our guy."
 
The Hawks get a breather on Monday before making the quick trip to Georgetown for a midweek on Tuesday, April 9 at the Washington Nationals Youth Academy in Washington, D.C. with first pitch coming at 4 p.m. against the Hoyas.
 
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