NORFOLK, Va., May 8, 2024 -- Maryland Eastern Shore struck early as Kelsie Ekstrom hit a two RBI home run in the first inning to put the Hawks ahead 2-0. 

Coppin responded in the bottom half of the inning with their own two RBI home run, this one from Seryna Esparza, sending Celeste Gonzales across home plate on the play. 

Following a 1,2,3 inning from CSU’s Emily Quintero in the circle, the Eagles put another two runs on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a pair of base hits and runs from Julianna Mejia and Leslie Sereno that put Coppin up 4-2. 

Maryland Eastern Shore knotted the score at four all in the top of the third inning. Mountain singled up the middle and advanced to third, pushing Holt home for the first run. Mountain crossed home plate as Ekstrom hit an RBI groundout to first tying the score.  

In the fourth inning, Coppin State’s Aniyah Haley recorded a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Celeste Gonzales giving the Eagles a 5-4 lead. 

Ameenah Ballenger hit a two RBI single in the top of the fifth to give the Hawks a 6-5 advantage over Coppin State with Mountain and Holt scoring the runs.  

After trailing UMES 6-5, Sereno hit an RBI single to scored Giselle Ulloa tying things up at six all. With all bases loaded, Aniyah Haley hit a three RBI triple to put Coppin up 9-6. Gonzales hit an RBI double with a run scored by Haley, before Coppin State continued the scoring run with back-to-back RBI singles from Fonoti and Esparza. Coppin ended the fifth inning with a 12-6 lead. 

Haley registered another double in the bottom of the sixth and scored a run on a sacrifice fly by Gonzales to increase CSU’s advantage to 13-6. 

Quintero threw a final 1,2,3 inning to close out the seventh inning, as Coppin State advanced to game four against No. 2 Howard for a 6pm first pitch.