March 28, 2006

Game One Stats | Game Two Stats

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - When the dust had finally settled on Tuesday afternoon's doubleheader at the North Athletic Complex, Cleveland State and Robert Morris had combined for 38 runs on 39 hits, including an astounding 13 home runs. The Vikings rallied from eight runs down to claim the opener, 10-9, only to have the Colonials return the favor in the night cap, winning 10-9 on a late burst.

In the first game, RMU jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings on the strength of four home runs. However, CSU started to chip away in its next at-bat, as Christa Coppus launched a solo homer and Sarah Milosek added a two-run double.

Still trailing 8-3 with two outs in the sixth, the Vikings staged a two-out rally to tie the game. Rachel Ellis' pinch-hit bases loaded single scored a pair, while Whitney Willard tripled in a run. CSU also scored on an error and knotted the contest at 8-8 when Willard scored on a wild pitch.

Coppus put the Vikings ahead in the seventh with her second solo shot of the game, but the Colonials answered with a blast of their own to send the contest into extra innings. Using the international tiebreaker, CSU pushed a run across on another RMU miscue.

The Vikings jumped out early in game two, taking a 5-1 lead in the fourth, thanks to a pair of Milosek homers and Coppus' third blast of the day. After the Colonials answered with four of their own in the bottom of the fourth, CSU surged back ahead with a four-run fifth. Milosek once again delivered the big blow, launching a bases clearing double off of the left field wall.

Unfortunately, RMU capped off the wild afternoon with a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, scoring the final two runs on a throwing error.

Milosek finished the day 5-for-6 with two doubles, a pair of home runs and eight RBI.

"I don't remember ever seeing two games like that," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "The ball was carrying out all day long. It's hard to get greedy after the great comeback in the first game, but it was a little bit of a letdown to lose the second game the way we did."

Cleveland State returns to the field on Wednesday (March 29) to host Akron in a single game beginning at 3:00 p.m.