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April 22, 2004
Princess Anne, MD - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (UMES) (3-39-1) defeated the Eagles of Coppin State College (13-29) in dramatic fashion today, with Butch Mills connecting on his second home run of the game over the left center fence to give UMES the 21-20 win. The game ended with a football score but contained more offense than you could shake a stick at, and that's exactly what the Hawks did. UMES had 21 runs on 22 hits and a modern day school record of five home runs off of five Eagles pitchers to send the Eagles packing. They had no small day at the plate either however, going through four Hawk pitchers and getting 20 runs on 20 hits. After a scoreless first inning the bats came to life in inning two. The Eagles appeared to be in control knocking in five runs, two coming off of the bat of Amil Traynum on a triple down the left field line. The Hawks kept it close in the bottom of the second. They started with a triple to right center by Rob Benak, which was followed by Mills' first home run down the left field line. Then UMES got one memorable moment when Anthony Jackson got the first home run of his collegiate career with a shot to left, that was back-to-back jacks for the Hawks. It was 5-3. Coppin extended their lead with two in the third and after three and one half innings the Eagles led the Hawks 7-3. That wasn't for long. In the bottom of the fourth inning they plated 11 runs on eight hits and taking advantage of three errors.
Jackson started it off with a single to shortstop. He stole second and then went to third when Peter Mayta reached on an error. A Greg Cathell double down the left field line plated both run. That put Graylon Kitchens on third after he walked earlier in the inning. Leon Tilghman, hitting as the designated hitter, got his first home run of his collegiate career with a shot to left center, recording three RBIs. With the bases empty Bobby Shaw walked and went to second on a Benak's single to second. He now had his triple and single. After a pitching change Butch Mills hit a single through the right side scoring Shaw. Benak scored on a Jackson single up the middle, his second at bat of the inning. A passed ball put Jackson on second and Mills on third, Mills then scored when Maher grounded out for the second out of the inning.
Mayta hit a two out single through the right side and went to second on an error by the right fielder that also scored Jackson. Kitchens walked for the second time in the inning and was followed by another Cathell hit, this one a single to right that scored Mayta. Head Coach Bobby Rodriguez, always the aggressor sent Cathell to second and the steal paid off, as he was safe and a throwing error by catcher Eddie Wilson that put him on third and plated Cathell. Eleven runs later the Hawks led 14-7. Coppin got four more runs in the sixth inning to make it a 14-11 score. Three more in the seventh tied the game. Two came off of the bat of shortstop Justin Riggs who doubled to third and collected RBIs on Graham Johnson and Chris Brown's runs. UMES took the lead right back in the bottom of the seventh when Kitchens doubled to center. Greg Cathell hit an infield shot that got him out, but the speedy Kitchens took off for third and an overthrow by first baseman Nick Wenger allowed him to score. Just when things appeared to be going the Hawk's way, Coppin State added four runs in the top of the eighth to take an 18-15 lead. UMES added on in the eighth inning with one run when Benak got his double, a shot to center. He scored on a double by Mills. With the lead in favor of Coppin headed into the ninth inning, 18-16, the Eagles added two insurance runs. A single to short by Traynum followed a one out double by Wilson. Traynum took off for second, stealing the base but the quick thought of Wilson allowed him to score on the throw. Brown reached on a fielding error by Benak and that allowed Traynum to score. Coppin State was up 20-16. The Hawks were determined to not let three home runs go to waste. In fact, they got two more. Kitchens led-off the inning with a triple to right. He scored when Cathell singled to center. That forced the fifth Eagle pitching change of the game. Riggs came in to pitch and got Tilghman to fly out. Shaw then doubled to right center and put Cathell on third. Rob Benak dug in and completed the cycle, hitting a three run shot to left to tie the game at 20. When it seemed headed to extra innings, Butch Mills took a 1-0 pitch to left center and got the walk-off homer and his second of the game. A win in true dramatic fashion. "It was a football game out there," said Head Coach Bobby Rodriguez. "These guys have worked hard and steadily improved this season, today they all clicked and 21 runs got us the win, we gave up a few, but at the end we were in the W column," he added. Graylon Kitchens got the win for Hawks to improve to 2-8. He pitched the final eight innings in relief of Tilghman who threw three and one third innings. Sean Davis made the start going two innings and was relieved by James Walls who worked a solid two innings allowing only one hit. UMES takes the day off on Friday and takes on Delaware State in Princess Anne in a double header on Saturday and completes the three game series on Sunday with a one game nine inning affair. |
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