Courtesy: Coppin State Athletics
BETHESDA, Md. — Coppin State’s baseball team held on for a 6-5 victory at Georgetown University on Tuesday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field. The victory improves the Eagles to 2-5 on the year while the Hoyas move to 3-9.
Inside the Numbers
- In his first career start, Tim Ruffino (2-1) had his best outing of the season, tossing 6.0 innings while allowing just five hits and striking out eight. He threw 82 pitches, 56 for strikes.
- Marcos Castillo led the CSU attack, going 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, a walk and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
- Justin Banks also homered with a pair of hits and drove in two runs while Conner Walker, Caden Walton and Eddie Javier also had multi-hit games.
- Bradley Tuttle earned his second save of the season, allowing three runs while striking out four in 2.0 innings. Corey Treyes also fanned two in his 1-plus innings.
- Coppin snapped a 13-game losing streak against Georgetown with its first victory over the Hoyas since 2008.
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How it Happened
- Georgetown got on the board first with an unearned run in the second inning with three-straight singles along with an error.
- Coppin tied it up in the top of the third on an RBI single from Conner Walker to score Marcos Castillo from second. Castillo reached on a one-out walk and got into scoring position as Justin Banks flew out to the gap in right-center.
- Tim Ruffino was electric over the next four innings, facing the minimum over the third, fourth and fifth innings while striking out the side in the fifth.
- In the sixth, Ruffino struck out the first Hoya, but the catcher’s throw to first went wild and the batter advanced to second. Castillo then robbed Eddie McCabe with a diving grab and doubled up Ryan Davis at second for a double play. Ruffino hit the next batter but got a fly ball to left to end the inning.
- Coppin finally delivered with runners on in the seventh, recording a pair of runs. Justin Oakley reached on a fielder’s choice, and after stealing second scored on a double off the left-field wall by Castillo. Castillo then scored as Justin Banks roped a single to center field.
- Corey Treyes relieved Ruffino to start the seventh and got out of a jam with a pair of strikeouts.
- The Eagles tacked on another run in the eighth on an opposite-field single by Eddie Javier to take a 4-1 lead. Matt Day scored on the play after reaching on a free pass before stealing second.
- Georgetown struck for back-to-back singles against Treyes to start to the eighth before Bradley Tuttle entered the game. Tuttle fanned the first batter before hitting the next and giving up a bloop single which cut Coppin’s lead to 4-2. Tuttle then struck out Georgetown’s Yareb Martinez before getting a fly ball to get out of the frame.
- When it seemed like the hosts had the momentum, Coppin took that away immediately as Castillo and Banks led off the ninth with back-to-back home runs to left-center and right-center, respectively. The solo blasts gave the Eagles a 6-2 advantage.
- Georgetown made it interesting in the ninth, putting the go-ahead run on base and scored three runs but Tuttle got a popup to catcher Mike Dorcean for the final out.
Up Next: Coppin is back in action on Wednesday, March 4 when it travels to Lehigh for a 3 pm first pitch.