Box Score | Updated Bracket


NORFOLK, Va., May 20, 2022 – Top seed Delaware State survived a late rally to defeat and eliminate Maryland Eastern Shore 11-10 in the 2022 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Baseball Chmpionship at Marty L. Miller Field.
 
The Hornets (24-22) advanced to Saturday’s 12 p.m. championship game against No. 2 seed Coppin State. Delaware State is in search of its second MEAC championship, first since 1989, while Coppin State is hoping for its first title since 1995.
 
Coppin State needs just one win; Delaware State will have to win twice.
 
UMES scored in the top of the first when Dillon Oxyer recorded an RBI groundout, but the Hornets answered in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from MEAC Player of the Year Trey Paige and an RBI double down the right field line from Alec Rodrigues to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Oxyer struck again in the third, tripling to dead center, bringing in Brian Cordell before scoring himself on a throwing error to put the Hawks on top 3-2. But Alan Alonso hit a three-run home run to right, his sixth of the season, in the bottom of the frame to put Delaware State up 5-3.
 
A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth tied the game at 5-5.
 
But the Hornets answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a two-run blast off Rodrigues’s bat that gave Delaware State a 7-5 lead. Miguel Rivera hit an RBI double down the left field line later in the inning, and Paige added another RBI single, to put the Hornets up 9-5.
 
Cordell walked with the bases loaded in the sixth to cut the lead to 9-6 and the Hawks threatened for more, but Mike Worthington ended the threat with a diving catch in center field. In the bottom of the frame, Robert Trujillo gave Delaware State an 11-6 lead with a two-run single up the middle.
 
UMES threatened in the top of the ninth, starting with a Roets RBI single to left that cut the lead to 11-7. An error later in the inning pushed across two more runs, then a wild pitch made it an 11-10 game.
 
But MEAC saves leader C.J. Loper struck out Brian Cordell to end the game.
 
Brady Daniels was 3-for-4 at the plate for the Hornets with two runs scored. Alonso and Rodriguez each had three RBIs, and Paige was 2-for-5 with a pair driven in.
 
Kyle Cincinnati led UMES, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
 
Saturday’s championship game will be at 12 p.m., streamed live on both HBCUGo.tv and the MEAC Digital Network on YouTube.
 
For more on the 2022 MEAC Baseball Championship, please visit the Championship Central page.