Game One Box
Game Two Box

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The Lincoln University baseball team endured a difficult close to opening weekend, dropping both games of a doubleheader to Elizabeth City State, 21-8 and 21-2, but the top of the lineup provided a continuous source of opportunities throughout the day.

With the losses, Lincoln falls to 0-4 on the season before traveling to Chowan Friday.

Game One

Marquise Hudson (Piscataway N.J./Piscataway HS) and Alejandro Rosario (Doradas, Puerto Rico/) opened the afternoon with a pair of singles. Rattled, ECSU pitcher Joel Brown hit consecutive Lions players, so when Kyle Brooks (Baltimore, Md./Seton Hill HS) got plunked, Hudson scored.

Donald Alexander, though, surrendered 13 runs, 11 of which were earned, in two innings. In the third, the Vikings scored two off of Peter Reyes (Bronx, NY/Enviornmental Studies) but in the fourth, LU put together its best offensive sequence of the season.

Absalom Lopez (Jersey City, NJ/Lincoln)  was hit with a pitch and would later score on a ball hit by Hudson., Rosario delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded just one batter later. Maurice Brown (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg HS) would single two batters later to plate Hudson. Aaron Thomas (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area) capped the frame with a two-run, bases-loaded double.

Reyes held the Vikings scoreless in the fourth, but in the fifth, he allowed two as the Vikings' margin increased to 15-6. In the sixth, Thomas singled home Brown. In the bottom half of the inning, though, ECSU scores six more and closed out the victory in the seventh for the 21-6 win.

The top of the lineup paced LU. Leadoff man Hudson went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs-scored. Rosario, hitting in the two-hole, went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Thomas, from the six spot, went 2-four-4 with 3 RBIs.

Game Two

Lincoln's offense was much quieter in the second game of the twin bill. Down 6-0 entering the third, LU pieced together a run when Chris Valdez reached base on an error by ECSU catcher Clifton Taylor and would score on a two-out single by Rosario.

ECSU countered with five runs in the bottom half of the frame highlighted by a two-run double by Gustav Arcia.

LU scored its final run in the top of the fourth. Justin Hooker booted a hard-hit ball by Phillip Tomsic (Bangor, Mich./Bangor HS), enabling Brown to score after opening the inning with a double.

Brown, though, took the loss after ECSU touched him up for 15 runs (11) earned in four innings.

— LU —