ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Despite tallying nine runs on 11 hits in the contest, the Navy baseball team (2-1) dropped a 15-9 decision to Coppin State (1-3) Wednesday at Max Bishop Stadium to round out its season-opening, three-game homestand.
Christian Policelli (Sr., Walkersville, Md.) led the Midshipmen offense by going 2-for-4 with an RBI triple and a three-run home run.
Kyle Rausch (Jr., Middle Island, N.Y.) added a 3-for-5 showing at the plate with a double, two runs scored and his first career home run.
Rounding out the top-offensive performers for Navy Wednesday was the duo of
Eduardo Diaz (So., Miami, Fla.) and
Logan Keller (So., Longwood, Fla.) who tallied two hits apiece along with combining for two RBI.
The Navy pitching staff combined to surrender seven walks in the game, along with hitting three batters, while the Midshipmen defense committed three errors against the Eagles.
"I think it was kind of the same movie," said head coach
Paul Kostacopoulos. "We walked seven and hit three, they had two grand slams that really impacted the game pretty heavily. We didn't do a very good job on defense, we made three errors which led to some of their runs. We were walking guys and hitting guys, we can't get the third out in an inning and that movie has played out over the last three games."
Navy found itself in an early hole to open the contest as Coppin State pounced with six runs on three hits in the first inning that included a pair of RBI doubles, prior to a two-out grand slam by catcher Landen Argabright.
The Midshipmen began chipping away at their six-run deficit in the bottom of the first as Policelli laced an RBI triple into the right-center field gap before Keller tallied an RBI single through the left side to cut the Eagle lead to 6-2.
In the home half of the second, Navy rallied to take its first lead of the day, beginning with a solo-home run by Rausch followed by a Diaz RBI single and a three-run home run by Policelli to put the Mids ahead, 7-6.
The rally was assisted by an outstanding effort in relief by
Liam Golden (Fr., Springfield, Va.) who pitched 2.1 innings while allowing just one hit after taking over in the first for starting pitcher
Thomas Russell (Jr., Fairfax, Va.).
The Midshipmen maintained their one-run advantage until the top of the fourth when Coppin State rallied with four runs on three hits to reclaim its lead at 10-7. Navy mounted a comeback attempt of its own just two innings later, cutting the Eagle advantage to just a run at 10-9 on an RBI groundout by
Ivan Aguirre (Fr., Temple City, Calif.) followed by Rausch coming home to score on a wild pitch.
However, the rally by the Mids would fall short as Coppin State added an additional five runs in the top of the seventh. Four of the runs came on the second grand slam of the day for the Eagles which occurred with two outs in the frame off the bat of Jordan Hambergy, pushing their lead to 15-9 which ultimately secured victory for CSU as Navy would leave four runners on base over the final two innings.
"We need to figure out a way to clean things up a little bit," Kostacopoulos continued. "On offense I thought we did a good job again, if you score nine runs you're doing the job. We just have to keep plugging, it's going to be a little bit of a rough patch until we get some guys back. No reason not to go out there and compete, to not get the third out in an inning and walk seven and hit three, you're going to be really hard pressed to win ball games like that."
Hamberg led the way for the Coppin State offense, going 3-for-4 with the aforementioned grand slam and a game-high five RBI.
Owen Archer (Fr., Frisco, Texas) suffered his first loss of the season (1-1) after allowing four runs, three being earned, on two hits during the Eagles fourth-inning rally. Sam Batis (1-0) earned the win for Coppin State after yielding one run over two innings of work.
UP NEXT
Navy will look to bounce back as it hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to take on Air Force in the annual Freedom Classic in Kintson, N.C. The three-game series will open Friday with a 6 p.m. first pitch, followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a 12:30 p.m. start in Sunday's series finale.
