Box Score HANOVER, Md. – The UMBC baseball team scored a season-high 17 runs as the Retrievers took game one from local rival Coppin State, 17-8, Friday night at Joe Cannon Stadium.
Four different Retrievers had multi-hit games against the Eagles, led by senior Brian Klukowicz (Clifton, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) and freshman Vince Corbi (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) who picked up three hits each. Klukowicz went 3-for-6 with a triple and four RBIs, while Corbi went 3-for-4 with a double and four runs scored on Friday evening.
Sophomore Jon Cohn (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep) went five innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits to pick up his first win of the year for UMBC, improving his record to 1-2.
Coppin's Ben Jarboe was charged with the loss after yielding 12 runs, only two of them earned, in 5.1 innings of work.
UMBC started brightly for the second straight game, claiming an early lead after plating four runs in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Rob McCabe (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) led off the game with a walk and was followed by a single from junior Tom Gilchrist (Olney, Md./Sherwood/Chesapeake CC). McCabe scored two batters later when Klukowicz reached on an error. Gilchrist followed across the plate when the next batter, freshman Anthony Gatto (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West), singled.
After Cohn blanked the Eagles in the bottom half of the first, UMBC responded with six runs in the top of the second. Gatto had the big hit for the Retrievers, knocking a triple to the outfield, bringing around two runs.
UMBC scored one run in the top of the third to push the lead to 11, but Coppin responded with four runs in the bottom of the third, cutting the lead to seven, 11-4.
Neither team scored in the fourth, but in the fifth both the Retrievers and Eagles scored with the visitors crossing the plate once in the top half, and Coppin State scoring twice in the bottom half.
The Eagles pulled within four, 12-8, their smallest margin in the game, with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
UMBC put the game away in the seventh and eighth innings though, scoring a combined five runs in the two innings to provide the final margin, 17-8.
The two teams meet again tomorrow for game two at Joe Cannon Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.
DAWG BITES
- The 17 runs for the Retrievers is the most in program history since scoring 18 against Navy on Mar. 5, 2008.
- UMBC's 13 RBIs against Coppin State sets a new season-high. The team's previous high was 12 set against Navy on Mar. 9.
- The Retrievers have now had at least three extra base hits in a single game in seven of 13 games this season.
- UMBC batters tied a season-low with only three strikeouts against Coppin State.
- UMBC pitchers tied a season-best of giving up only two walks.
