In their final midweek home matchup of the season, baseball steamrolled past Coppin State Tuesday in a decisive 20–7 victory.
The Eagles (8-23) were held to just seven runs in the entire game, the same amount the Colonials (19-18) scored in just the first inning.
Freshman pitcher Emmett Harkins earned the win, allowing just seven hits and three runs in a little more than four innings pitched. It was his first win of his GW career.
On their way to the win, the Colonials racked up 15 stolen bases, smashing the program record for most steals in a single game.
Senior outfielder Joey Bartosic, who now boasts 77 career swipes – two away from the program record – tallied four stolen bases in the game, as did senior outfielder Andrew Selby.
“Today we really emphasized just trying to put our foot on the gas pedal and just score as much as we can,” Bartosic said.
Bartosic ended the game with three hits and three runs batted in.
In all, GW had a season-high 20 runs on 22 hits, compared to Coppin State’s seven runs on 13 hits. It was the Eagles eleventh game the season in which an opponent scored ten or more runs on them.
“When you put up 20 runs, 20-plus hits, you can’t be too upset with it,” Bartosic said.
Freshman Steven Barmakian had his first career start as a catcher, filling in for junior Brandon Chapman who was out with injury.
The Westfield, N.J. native put up three hits and four RBIs in five at-bats on the day.
“I was really excited to get the start, really grateful for opportunity,” Barmakian said. “All of our guys came together. Great team win.”
The Colonials never trailed in the outing and had two seven-run innings during the victory.
The game was lopsided after the first inning, when GW jumped out to a 7–0 lead. Senior first baseman Bobby Campbell hit a sacrifice fly to center field, sending Selby over home plate for the first run of the game.
A two-run double by junior second baseman Robbie Metz, a three-run double from senior third baseman Eli Kashi and an RBI from Bartosic rounded out the seven runs in the first inning.
The Eagles answered back with one run scored in both the second and third innings to narrow the Colonials lead 7–2, but GW piled the runs back on, making it difficult for them to be caught.
Coppin State had its best hitting inning in the seventh. After trailing 11–3, the Eagles picked up three runs in the top of the frame to make the game 11–6.
The Colonials sent nine players up to bat in the seventh inning to pick up another seven runs on seven hits, increasing the advantage to 18–6.
Two more runs from GW in the eighth inning made the outcome almost certain as the team sent sophomore Will Kobos to the mound to close out the game.
“Every game is important as we lead into the stretch of the last Atlantic 10 conference games we have,” Assistant Coach Dave Lorber said. “So any time we can continue a solid approach, throw strikes and play defense. The momentum keeps rolling into the next weekend so it’s important for us, absolutely.”
The Colonials travel to Towson tomorrow to face off against the Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
