The historic run for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore has come to an end, as the Hawks fell to Long Island University in the second round of the Northeast Conference tournament on Wednesday, May 24.
The Hawks end the season with an 18-37 (14-16 NEC) record, finishing as the top former Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference affiliate member in the NEC and the most wins in a season since 1995 when the Hawks went 25-28.
“Those seniors are the first ones to be here and that’s something to be proud of,” interim head coach Shawn Phillips said. “I told the guys, leave the field proud of where you’re started and where you’re ending it, there’s something to say about this group of guys.”
LIU started the bottom of the first with a successful leadoff bunt and attempted to move the runner over with a sacrifice only to grab an unearned run with an error on the play. In the second, the Sharks worked the bases loaded and were able to grab another unearned run to put the Hawks down by two.
After a one-out single by Marcus Brown in the fourth, Kyle Cincinnati was able to reach on an error and Luke Myers walked, loading the bases for UMES. With a hard-hit single to left, Alex McCoy tied the game up at two-all.
The Sharks were able to string along enough hits in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-3 on the Hawks, doubling twice along with a pair of singles to chase starter Evan Nibblett. An error on a Shark steal attempt would drive in another run that was charged to Nibblett despite his exit.
An extra pair of runs were scored in the eighth by the Sharks when there were two Hawk errors in the inning that would bury the comeback attempt.
“We just didn’t play very well defensively,” Phillips said. “They’re going to put the ball in play, and you just have to make the plays behind them (the pitchers).”
