Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team continued its hot play in the MEAC Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader from North Carolina A&T, 15-13 and 5-1, at War Memorial Stadium.
The Hawks scored at least a run in seven innings of game one and got a solid complete-game effort from right-hander Russel Deutschmann on the mound in the second game. He scattered six hits and allowed one unearned run and a walk with four strikeouts for his first win of the season.
The sweep improved UMES 10-25 overall and 8-3 in the MEAC. N.C. A&T fell to 7-24 and 3-7 in the league.
Seven Hawks tallied two-or-more hits in the first game and eight scored a run. Senior captain Pat Hercinger was 4-for-5 five runs scored to lead UMES at the plate. Sophomore Bryan Chaikowsky went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a run and four RBIs and Josh Dunham was 2-for-4 with three runs and two walks.
John DesChamps picked up the win in relief of Matt Witte. DesChamps improved to 3-4 on the season.
Xavier Macklin led the Aggies, going 5-for-6 with five RBIs, a home run and two runs scored.
The Hawks held a 3-1 lead after one and were up, 5-3, after three innings. UMES added two more in the top of the fourth on Chaikowsky's two-RBI double to center that scored Hercinger and Dunham with one out.
Witte threw up a zero in the bottom of fourth and Aggies' starter Blaine McCraw returned the favor in the fifth.
Leading, 7-4, in the sixth, UMES tacked on two runs for a 9-4 lead with Jonathan Smith on in relief. Elliott Alston sent a two-run single to center with the bases loaded to bring in Deutschmann and Hercinger with one out.
The Aggies cut the lead to 9-8 with four in their half of the sixth, three of which came on C.J. Beatty's homer to right field.
The Hawks offense kept at it, though, helping to reestablish a three-run lead in the eighth with a Franklin Armstrong RBI groundout to first and an Alston sacrifice fly to left, making it a 11-8 game.
The Aggies took their first lead of the game at 12-11 with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth. An error in left field to start the inning set the stage for Macklin's home run to center, a two-run shot to make it a one-run game, 11-10.
With Beatty on third, Jaron Neal knotted the game at 11 with a single to center. The Aggies took the lead on a Marquis Riley sacrifice fly later in the inning.
Chaikowsky took the first pitch of his at-bat to right field for his second RBI double of the game to regain the lead for UMES, 13-12. Armstrong then added a two-run RBI single to give the Hawks a three-run lead.
The Aggies added one more in the last of the ninth but it wasn't enough as Cameron Zimmerman nailed it down for his first save of the season.
DesChamps earned the victory with two innings of three-hit, four-run ball. Chris Watson (1-3) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on six hits.
N.C. A&T jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game two in the first inning when Beatty tripled to
center field and scored on a Troy King error with two out.
From there, it was all UMES. The Hawks tied the game at 1 in the second on a Michael Guy double, which scored Armstrong. He had singled and stole second base to get into scoring position.
The Hawks took the lead, 2-1 when Remo Orsini came across on a Hercinger RBI groundout to second. Orsini singled to leadoff the inning, moved to second on a Phil Vaughn groundout and third on a Dunham single.
UMES added three insurance runs in the fifth to account for the final margin. Orsini scored from third on a balk. Dunham and Vaughn also came around in the inning with unearned runs.
Esterlin Paulino (3-3) also went the distance in the second game and took the loss. He allowed nine hits and three earned runs while posting two strikeouts.
Dunham went 2-for-4 with a run to cap the sweep.
The teams close their three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.