Senior captain Pat Hercinger was 4-for-6 on the day at the plate, but the University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team dropped a MEAC doubleheader to Florida A&M, 20-5 and 11-5, at Hawks Stadium Saturday.
The Rattlers (14-19, 5-5 MEAC) pounded 39 hits in the sweep with multiple big innings to take it to the UMES pitching staff. FAMU tallied eight runs in the second inning of game one and led 11-0 before the Hawks got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning with a run-scoring double to center field by Phil Vaughn and an RBI groundout to second from Josh Dunham.
Center fielder Darryl Evans paced Florida A&M, going 7-for-11 with two home runs, a double, triple, steal, four runs and eight RBIs. Jared Jefferies chipped in with a seven-hit, four-run effort for the two games.
Vaughn was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs in game one for UMES, following that up with a 1-for-3 performance in the second game. Bryan Chaikowsky had a single and scored in game one and crushed his first collegiate home run to deep center, a two-run shot, in the third inning of game two.
Tyler Love contributed three hits and two runs for the Hawks (10-30, 8-6) while catcher Michael Guy picked up a pair of knocks in a game two.
Anthony Espin (5-6) got the win on the mound for the Rattlers in the first game, pitching four innings and allowing three runs on four hits, five walks. He also struck out two. Tim Schalch threw the final three frames surrendering five hits and two runs to earn his first save of the season.
Right-handed starter Matt Witte took the loss for UMES in 2.1 innings of work to move to 2-2. He gave up 10 hits, 11 runs and two walks.
Vaughn gave the Hawks their third run in the fourth on infield hit to shortstop and the Hawks added two more in the seventh when relief-pitcher-turned-pinch-hitter Carl Huber came through with a two-RBI single to score Chaikowsky and Shaquille Bagwell.
UMES took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game two as Hercinger poked a single through the right side to score Vaughn with no outs. With two on, Chaikowsky walked to load the bases, but A&M's Tim Jones (1-3) got out of the jam with consecutive strikeouts and a groundout.
The lead didn't last long. The Rattlers came back with two in the second with a Schalch sacrifice fly and an Antonio Burke RBI base hit.
The lead expanded to three at 5-1 in the third when Evans led off with a homer to right followed by a double by Steve Cunningham. Cunningham moved to third on a bobble in center field and Stavone Martin made the error academic, blast ing the second home run of the inning to right center.
The Hawks got two back on Chaikowsky's homer in the bottom of the inning with Hercinger aboard.
The teams traded runs in the fourth for a 6-4 game before the Rattlers closed with five over the final three innings to ensure the victory.
Jones earned the win on the mound with a complete game. He allowed 11 hits, five walks and four strikeouts to go along with the five runs.
Russel Deutschmann absorbed the loss for UMES. He went five innings, gave up nine runs on 14 hits and two walks. He also had one strikeout. Cameron Zimmerman finished the game and surrendered two runs on three hits in two innings.
Game three of the series is slated for Sunday at noon.