April 13, 2009

Final Stats

LAUREL, Md.- The North Carolina Central University Eagles began their five-games in three day road swing in style on Monday afternoon earning their first road victory of the season in a 12-7 thriller over the Coppin State University Eagles in 11 innings at Joe Cannon Stadium.

The visiting Eagles struck the first blow in the ballgame in part to the duo of Akeem Hood, and Oliver Jenkins as the combo hit back-to-back singles to put Hood at third base with no outs. Jenkins got caught stealing, but in the meantime Hood broke home to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 after one-half of an inning.

The game stayed that way until the fourth inning, when the sensational freshman Hood got his second hit of the day driving in NCCU junior Kurt Wilson, adding one more run to the Eagle, 2-0 after the top of the fourth.

Sophomore hurler Douglas Dalley was sailing smoothly allowing just one hit through the first four, until Lionel Bush reached on a David Scott error at third base to start off the bottom of the fifth. After that the host Eagles pounced on NCCU. Coppin State scored five runs in the fifth off just two hits, and two errors by the visiting Eagles, taking a 5-2 heading into the sixth inning.

The score remained that way until the seventh when Hood struck once again. The freshman from Raleigh, N.C. led off the inning with a walk, and worked his way around scoring on David Scott RBI sacrifice fly cutting the margin to 5-3. In the bottom half of the seventh inning Coppin State's Josue Martinez started that frame off with a single through the infield. Two batters later CSU shortstop Chris Caudillo bunted Martinez home to put the score at 6-3 after seven complete innings.

From the eighth inning on, the ballgame was full of nothing but drama. With NCCU trailing 6-3, Fort Washington, Md. native Anthony Wilson ignited the Eagle rally with his third double of the season to get the ball rolling. Two consecutive walks loaded the bases up for Dr. Henry White's squad. The deficit was cut to two on a Jenkins single to right field scoring Wilson. Blake Murray came back up to the plate and hit an RBI sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Akeem Hood, and sophomore Edward Pegues drove in Jenkins with an RBI single to left field to knot the ballgame up at 6-6.

In the bottom of the eighth CSU's Francisco Rosado started off with a walk, and first baseman Harry Williams hit a single to right field to advance Rosado to third. Coppin State catcher Rosado eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Lionel Bush to score what was thought to be the winning run for Coppin State as they led 7-6 heading into the ninth inning.

That's when NCCU battled back and show its true grit with a little help. Two consecutive errors by Coppin State second baseman Kallen Fletcher put the Eagles in scoring position with pinch-runner Ross Plummer at third and Jenkins on first with two outs. Sophomore David Scott stepped up to the plate and quickly found himself behind at 0-2 in the count, and one strike away from defeat. The Eagles forced CSU pitcher Johnathan Reynolds, who threw 160 pitches in the contest, to get Jenkins in a run-down and Plummer bolted home to tie the game up at 7-7.

Fast-forwarding to the bottom of the 10th inning, Coppin State had Lionel Bush at second base and two outs and Kallen Fletcher was at the plate. Fletcher had the chance to redeem himself after two costly errors that helped the Eagles tie the game in the ninth. Fletcher hit a seeing-eye single to left field setting up the suspense-filled play at the plate in which Edward Pegues threw out Bush at home keeping the game tied at 7, and changing the momentum of the game at the blink of an eye.

NCCU finally took control of the game, by scoring five runs in the 11th inning and held on for the dramatic 12-7 win, ending their nine-game losing streak and setting a positive tone for a tough road swing.

The first four batters in the NCCU (5-20) order (Hood, Jenkins, Scott, and Murray) all combined to go 9-for-16 at the plate scoring six runs and nine RBI. On the other hand, the Eagles left a disappointing 16 men on base.

NCCU freshman Hurler Brandon Strickland (2-1) earned the win, pitching the final three innings allowing just three hits and no runs in the outing.

The Eagles take on the Delaware State University Hornets Tuesday afternoon in doubleheader action starting at 1:00. The NCCU Sports Network will be on the air starting at 12:45 with "Eagle Gameday".