SUMMARY
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks fell to the reigning NEC champion Central Connecticut State Blue Devils 11-7 at CCSU Baseball Field.
THE SCORE
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (1-10. 0-1) - 7
Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (2-2, 1-0) - 11
HOW IT HAPPENED
Maryland Eastern Shore controlled the game early, outsourcing their opposition 6-3 in the opening six frames.
UMES began the game with an RBI double from Julian Jimenez in the first inning. Jonathan Gonzalez Perez then laced an RBI single to put UMES ahead 2-0 at the end of the opening frame.Â
After a scoreless first inning by starting pitcher Jonah Stepner, the Maroon and Grey tacked on a trio of runs in the second frame. First Christian Azcona scored while the Blue Devils tried to catch Kedrick Alicea stealing second. UMES then finished the scoring run with back-to-back RBI walks from Gonzalez Perez and Diego Aponte to take a 5-0 lead.
Although CCSU scored three total runs between the fourth and fifth innings, Stepner handled Central Connecticut State's lineup well en route to a season-high six-inning outing. An RBI single from Marco Davila in the fifth inning and an RBI double from Jonathan Rodriguez in the seventh helped UMES'Â offense capitalize on Stepner's strong start.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, the Blue Devils mounted a comeback, tallying eight unanswered runs in the process. Trailing 7-3, Central Connecticut State tacked on one run in the seventh before amassing seven runs in the eighth to take an 11-7 advantage. Even though the Hawks got the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth, the Blue Devils' closer retired the side with the bases loaded to clinch the comeback victory.
THE NUMBERS
UMES scored seven runs on 11 hits and two errors while CCSU recorded 11 runs on 14 hits and no errors
Stepner struck out three in his season-high six-inning start on the mound
Carson (2-for-4), Gonzalez Perez (2-for-4), and Darrius Brown (2-for-4) all recorded multi-hit games for the Hawks
Gonzalez Perez tallied a team-high two RBI
Marco Davila finished 1-for-4 and recorded his first RBI of the season
UP NEXT
The Hawks continue their series in New Britain, Conn. against Central Connecticut State at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 8. Live stats will be available on www.ccsubluedevils.com and the game stream will be available on NEC Front Row.
FOLLOW ALONG
Keep up with the latest from UMES baseball on UMESHawkSports.com and by following along on X (@UMESHawkBase) and Instagram (@umeshawkbase).