Lehigh Pulls Away Late in Midweek Battle With Coppin State

Wednesday, April 25

Bethlehem, Pa.

3 p.m.

Lehigh University

16-24

Coppin State University

15-19-1

Coppin State

Lehigh

Lehigh Pulls Away Late in Midweek Battle With Coppin State

4/25/2018 8:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Playing their second game in as many days, the Mountain Hawks bounced back from a tough loss on Tuesday with a 11-7 victory over Coppin State on Wednesday at Walker Field.

Lehigh (16-24) took a 2-1 lead over Coppin State (15-19-1) at the end of the first, which proved to be a significant difference as the two teams match each other's run production for the next five innings. The Mountain Hawks extended the lead and broke open some breathing room with four runs in the seventh. The Eagles did not go away quietly, cutting into the deficit with three runs in the top of the eight before Lehigh answered with two runs in the bottom of the eight to regain a comfortable lead.

The top of the order accounted for the early lead in the first inning as Chris Kersey led off with a walk and scored on a Mike Maguire double. Maguire then scored on an RBI single by James Bleming.

Peter Moore entered to get the final out of the fourth inning and left two runners stranded. The senior lefty then proceeded to toss three-straight scoreless innings, while Lehigh extended its lead to five. Moore retired 11 of the first 13 batters he faced before exiting the game in the eighth inning. Moore earned the win and improves to 3-7 on the season as he allowed three runs on three hits through 3.2 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.

As Moore shutdown the Eagle offense, he received big run support from his offense in the seventh. The Mountain Hawks loaded the bases with only one out recorded as Ryan Bonshak drew a five-pitch walk. A wild pitch allowed all runners to advance and Lehigh loaded the bases once again as Thomas Schumacher drew the third walk of the inning. Matt Hand got another run with a sacrifice fly to right field and Kersey capped off the scoring with a two-run triple down the right field line.

After the Eagles responded with three runs in the top of the eighth, Lehigh began the bottom half of the frame with back-to-back walks and put both runners in scoring position with a double steal by Bleming and Tony Gallo. Jeff Shanfeldt brought in Bleming with an RBI ground out and later in the inning, Bonshak got caught in a run down to allow Quinn McKenna to score from third.

Lehigh turned to its top reliever, Ethan Frohman, to lock down the victory in the ninth. The junior lefty retired the side in order on a total of six pitches.

The Mountain Hawks were aggressive all day on the base paths as they compiled 10 stolen bases on the day. That total is the highest number by a Lehigh team in the past decade and the most since posting eight at Holy Cross on April 21, 2013. Kersey and Bleming each had three stolen bases on the day which is the most by a Lehigh player since Justin Pacciholi recorded four also in the game at Holy Cross on April 21, 2013.

Bleming's three stolen bases improves his season total to 11, which is good enough to lead the team and sets a personal single-season record for the senior shortstop.
The Mountain Hawks will close out their final home stand of the season with four Patriot League games at Walker Field this weekend. Lehigh will host Navy on Saturday in a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. before hosting Bucknell in a Sunday doubleheader also starting at 12 p.m.