The Official Athletics Website of Coppin State

BALTIMORE – Behind a gutty pitching performance from Jeremiah Cothiere, the Eagles baseball team beat North Carolina Central, 11-7, in game one of a double header sweep on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The win snapped a 55-game losing streak for the Eagles, the longest losing streak in Division I baseball history.

 

The Eagles won game two, 7-6, on a walk off wild pitch with the bases loaded to improve their record to 2-10 on the season while North Carolina Central fell to 1-9.

 

In the opener, Cothiere, a junior from Lake Worth, Fla, started shaky allowing six runs over the first two innings, only to settle in and keep UNCC off the scoreboard over the next three frames.

 

Trailing 4-0 after the top of the first, the Eagles answered with six runs of their own off UNCC starter David Scott. Brandon Alexander led off the inning with a walk, stole second and came around to score on Jerry Matos’ double to left field. After a pop out brought the first out of the inning, Matos stole third, and then scored on a single by Patrick Regalado. After back to back errors allowed Carlos Russell and Angel Recci to reach base, Roman Batista singled to right field scoring Regalado, with Russell and Recci both coming around to score on a bad throw from the outfield to give the Eagles a 6-4 lead.

 

UNCC tied the game in the top of the second inning with two runs before the Eagles answered with two of their own in the bottom half. Alexander once again led off the inning reaching base with a single, followed by Matos’ second hit of the day, a bunt single down the third base line. Harry Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Scott induced a ground ball back to the mound off of the bat of Regalado which turned into a 1-2-3 double play. Russell followed with a hard ground ball that was misplayed by UNCC shortstop Gene Suarez, allowing Williams and Matos to score, giving the Eagles an 8-6 lead.

 

The Eagles added two runs in the fourth and a single run in the fifth before UNCC scored one run in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to four.

 

Three outs from the Eagles’ first win of the season, Cothiere allowed a lead-off single to Oliver Jenkins to start the seventh. After he hit Justin Goodson with a pitch, head coach Harvey Lee replaced Cothiere with freshman Moses Muldrow. Working in a save situation with the tying run on deck, Muldrow got Kurt Wilson to ground out and Wesley Brown to pop up. With two outs and runners on second and third, Kyle Davis reached safely on a ground ball to third base, but the home plate umpire ruled that Goodson had interfered with the fielding of the play, ruling him out and giving Coppin State their first win of the 2008 campaign.

 

“I finally got the monkey off my back,” said head coach Harvey Lee after the game. “The kids deserve this. There have been a few games where calls didn’t go our way, but I wanted them to see they really are a good team.”

 

Game two was a pitching duel through four innings as the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third and the game stayed that way until the top of the fifth inning when UNCC scored five runs off Eagles’ starter Darrell Downs, with the help of the three Eagles errors.

 

Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles answered with four runs of their own. Oscar Santalo, Batista and Alexander all walked to open the inning with the bases loaded. A wild pitch allowed Santalo to score, moving Batista to third and Alexander to second. Matos followed with a two-run single down the left field line. Matos then stole second and came around to score on Williams single to right center.

 

The Eagles took the lead with a run in the bottom of the sixth when Kenny Briggs reached base after getting hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Santalo and reached third on a wild pitch. After a Batista strike out, Alexander doubled to left center giving the Eagles a 6-5 lead.

 

In the top of the seventh, UNCC coupled three hits and an Eagle error to tie the game, setting the stage for the dramatic bottom of the seventh. Harry Williams led the inning off with a deep double to left center off of reliever Mike Cornwell. Regalado was intentionally walked before Russell struck out swinging. Recci was hit by a pitch to load the bases for pinch-hitter Sean Yampierre, but a Cornwell pitch got away from catcher Donald Murray, bringing home Williams and giving the Eagles the doubleheader sweep.