BALTIMORE-After a 12-day layoff due to inclement weather from its last game played at Hampton (April 10) the Lady Bears finally returned to action on Friday afternoon for its rescheduled MEAC doubleheader against Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). The games were originally scheduled for last week weekend (April 16-17).
Morgan State made up for the time missed on the field, combining for 28 hits in two games, while outscoring the Lady Hawks a total of 26-2 in a doubleheader sweep of UMES (13-0 and 13-2) on a cold and rainy Friday at Lois T. Murray Field. Both games went only five innings.
Also season long Morgan State's offense seemed to wake up in the late innings, usually around the fifth or sixth innings, mounting big comebacks or just falling short. In Game 1 the Morgan State bats got going in the third inning, breaking a scoreless game with four runs, before erupting for nine more in the fourth inning to take a commanding 13-0 lead.
Amber Frame led Morgan's offensive attack with a 3-for-3 performance, including a homerun, 3RBIs and two runs scored. Tamra Griffin also drove in three runs, going 2-for-3, including a triple and two runs scored. Fellow Lady Bears Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, Gabrielle Gomez, Shareda Christina and Sakina Smith all recorded two hits in the opener for Morgan State, which finished with 16 hits in 28 at bats.
Jordan Eades picked up her ninth win of the season to improve to 9-16. Eades tallied three strikeouts and surrendered five hits in the shortened game.
With the rain beginning to start up again and continue during Game 2, the Lady Bears went to work quick, scoring seven runs in the opening inning to take a 7-1 lead after the first.
UMES (6-32, 1-7 MEAC) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jasmine James doubled to score Lisa Bates, who led off the inning with a double. Charlise Castro tried to also score on the play standing up and was thrown out at home.
Morgan State bounced back in the bottom half of the first with seven runs, capped off by a two-run homerun to left field by Frame to make it a 7-1 game. It was Frame's second homer of the day and season.
The Lady Hawks got a run back in the third inning when Bates led off with a homerun to left center, but that would be all the offense for UMES.
Morgan State struck again scoring six runs in the fourth inning with Gomez and Brown each driving in two runs during the inning.
Gomez went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and 2RBIs to lead Morgan State, while Walther-Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI. Devina Brown finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and 2RBIs. Pitcher Megan Johnson picked up the win to improve to 4-2 on the season. Johnson struck out three batters and walked three, while allowing eight hits and two runs in five innings of work.
For the complete story, visit www.morganstatebears.com or www.umeshawks.com