Campbell stays hot, but Hawks upended twice at Georgetown
BETHESDA, Md. - Despite a four RBI performance by senior Byron Campbell (Waldorf, Md.), the University of Maryland Eastern Shore baseball team was swept in a doubleheader at Georgetown on Tuesday afternoon. The Hawks fell in game one, 7-3, before losing a 7-2 decision in the nightcap. UMES has now lost both ends of its past two doubleheaders.
Campbell is now 13 for his last 19 and has multi-hit contests in each of the past four. He ripped his third bomb of the week with a two-run shot in the fourth. Despite hitting safely in the nightcap, senior Stephen Bull ended the longest hitting streak for UMES in the Division I era at 25 games with an 0-for-2 performance in the opener. Bull walked in the seventh to up his consecutive games reached base streak at 26, while Campbell moved the same streak to 15 games.
Georgetown (15-22) opened up the scoring in the game after the Hoyas tallied two in the bottom of the first. The Hoyas upped their tally to 3-0 following an RBI double by Ryan Bush in the third.
UMES (11-24) was unable to do much through the first four innings off of Hoya starter Chris Giordano, who allowed just three base runners into the fifth. It was the fifth inning, however, where the Hawks bats came alive.
Freshman Skylar Murray was plunked to open the fifth, before freshman Troy Anderson doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Sophomore Mike Escanilla reached safely to load the bases and Bull sent home Murray with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 3-1.
The damage was done the next hitter after NCBWA National Player of the Week, Byron Campbell, blasted a double to deep left-center to score a pair. Campbell's double evened the score up at three all.
Jake Kuzbel had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to give GU the lead, before the Hoyas used three more runs in the sixth to run away with the win in the first game.
The Hawks posted just four hits in the opener, two of which were off the bat of Campbell. GU had eight players hit safely in the win and had 13 hits total. Eric Webber had a game-high three hits, while Ryan Busch, Beau Hall and AC Carter each had two hits.
Giordano (1-1) took the win and Chipper Smith (2-5) was saddled with the loss.
GU took the early lead in game two after the Hoyas posted solo tallies in each of the first two innings.
The Hawks added two runs in the second on a massive two-RBI blast by Campbell that went halfway up the trees in left field. Following two scoreless at-bats, Georgetown went to work again with three more runs to extend its lead to three, 5-2.
The two-run tally in the third for the Hawks was followed by four scoreless frames as GU raced to the doubleheader sweep with two runs in the last two innings.
Philip Berry (1-6) took the loss after giving up four earned runs on 10 hits in five innings. Sophomore Jordan Bone finished the game with one inning of scoreless relief. Escanilla and Bull each were 2-for-4 in the nightcap and junior Greg Turlik reached base safely twice.
Nick Leonard (2-0) was the winner for the Hoyas.
The Hawks will not have long to wait as they host George Washington for a single game tomorrow at 3 p.m. UMES opened up its season with a 3-2 loss to the Colonials.
For complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com
Coppin State falls in extra innings to Lehigh
ANNE ARUNDEL, Md. – The Coppin State baseball team was three outs away from securing a memorable non-conference triumph. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Lehigh scored single runs in the ninth and tenth innings to escape Joe Cannon Stadium with a hard-fought, 4-3, victory in a finger-licking good extra-inning contest.
The ending was tough for Coppin State (9-26 overall) as it did everything to set itself up for a victory against the Mountain Hawks (19-19). Coppin State hurlers Anderson Burgess, Dillon O’Brien and Michael Roberts were strong on the mound and nearly made the Eagles early three-run advantage stand up.
Overall, in its last six games, Coppin State’s pitching has compiled a solid 3.96 earned run average and has held opponents to four or fewer runs in half of those games. CSU starting pitchers have tossed four quality starts during this span. If the strong pitching continues, Coppin State will become a tough out during next month’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) tournament in Norfolk.
The Eagles did a great job in the second inning of clustering their three runs. Dalton Cozart, Jeffrey Fitch and Darien Percell all delivered run scoring singles in the inning that staked Coppin State to a 3-0 advantage. Fitch’s hit extended his hitting streak to four games. Cozart finished with two hits for his first multi-hit game of the season.
Also during the second inning, Michael Wright and Percell stole bases and kept the heat on the Lehigh pitching staff. Colin Dower beautifully executed a bunt to move runners. Defensively, Alex Brown was a machine as he threw out a pair of basestealers. David Hamlett, Bryant Miranda and Colin Dower made several awesome plays in the field for the Eagles.
Things were going well for the Eagles early before Lehigh started slowly chipping away at its deficit.
In the sixth, the Eagles made two errors on one play that led to Lehigh’s first run of the game. The Mountain Hawks’ Joe Abeln scored the tying run on a wild pitch with one out in the ninth inning after leading off the inning with a single, advancing to second on a balk and stealing third base.
Lehigh’s leadoff hitter Justin Pacchioli had three hits and Mike Garzillo, who beat out a potential double play in the 10th inning that allowed the decisive run to score, had a pair of hits for the Mountain Hawks.
Coppin State won’t have time to dwell on this setback as it will make the short trip down to Interstate 195 to visit Maryland-Baltimore County in a game beginning at 6:00 p.m.
For complete story, visit www.coppinstatesports.com
Bethune-Cookman Baseball Rained Out Tuesday at Georgia Southern
STATESBORO, Ga. - After over an hour of lightning and rain delays at J.I. Clements Stadium, Bethune-Cookman baseball’s non-conference contest at Georgia Southern was called as a rain-out on Tuesday night after thunderstorms swept through east central Georgia.
At the time of the delay, the Wildcats trailed the Eagles 5-2 in the bottom of the third inning, when lightning was detected in the area and forced the came to be suspended. A downpour followed as the heart of the storm crossed Statesboro.
No information is available at this time regarding a make-up date or continuation.
The Wildcats head out to face another out-of-state non-conference opponent this weekend, as Bethune-Cookman travels to College of Charleston for a three-game series running Friday (Apr. 25) through Sunday (Apr. 27).
For complete story, visit www.bcuathletics.com