BALTIMORE, Md. (April 28, 2021)-Morgan State swept a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon against visiting Bowie State at Lois T. Murray Field. The Lady Bears won the opener 8-0 in six innings, before earning a 13-7 comeback victory in the nightcap.
 
Morgan State (17-13) improved to 13-3 at home this season and has now won eight straight at Lois T. Murray Field. Bowie State fell to 0-12 on the year.
 
Following the doubleheader the Lady Bears received some welcoming news with Beltway rival Howard's sweep of Coppin State during the day, which allowed Morgan State to clinch a berth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship in Norfolk, Va. (May 13-15).
 
Game 1
Bowie State's best scoring opportunity came in the top of the second inning when the Lady Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs, following back-to-back hit batters. But Morgan State junior pitcher Mikayla Barnard got Shanya Gordon to strikeout swinging to prevent any runs from crossing the plate.
 
Morgan State got on the board in the bottom half of the second when Deborah Hamilton scored on an error at second for the 1-0 lead. Haylee Bobos doubled to left center in the third inning to score Kyley Fijalkowski to increase Morgan's lead to 2-0.
 
The Lady Bears would erupt for five runs in the fourth inning, capped off by Aliya Ewell's inside the park homerun, which also scored Fijalkowski to extend their lead to 7-0.
 
Jalian Young ended the game in the sixth inning when she scored the eighth and final run when Fijalkowski reached on an error by the Bowie State third baseman.
 
Barnard improved to 8-3 on the season with the win. She threw a game-high four strikeouts in four innings of work.
 
Fijalkowski led the Lady Bears with two hits, two runs and a RBI. Young finished 1-for-2 with two runs and a walk and Ewell finished 1-for-3 with a run and a game-high two RBIs.
 
Game 2
Bowie wasted no time jumping on the Lady Bears, scoring five runs in the opening frame. The Lady Bulldogs quickly had bases loaded when former Lady Bear and Morgan graduate Evelyn Buelhman cleared the bases with a double to right center, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. Four batters later Bowie again had bases loaded as Aliyah Smith stepped to the plate and delivered a double also to left center to score two more runs and increase the lead to 5-0.
 
Morgan State got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Deborah Hamilton tripled down the right field line to score Kayla Bates. Sarah Tuzinski then singled to score Hamilton, as Morgan cut the deficit to 5-2 after the first inning.
 
Bowie got a run in the second when Buelhman singled in her fourth run of the game to give the guests a 6-2 advantage.
 
Morgan State responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning, when Bates homered to left field to bring the hosts within a run at 6-5.
 
The Lady Bulldogs scored their seventh run of the game in the third inning when Smith doubled in Aseyah Alexander to put Bowie State up 7-5. That would be the guests last run of the evening, as Morgan State would score eight unanswered runs to complete the comeback.
 
Aliya Ewell hit an RBI double in the fourth inning to trim the Bowie State lead to a run at 7-6. The Lady Bears evened the score in the fifth inning at 7-7 when Jalian Young stole third and scored on a throwing error.
 
Morgan State went back to work in the sixth inning, breaking the game open with six runs. Haylee Bobos gave the hosts the lead for good with her double to third base which scored Meikel Turner for the 8-7 lead. Two batters later Bates hit her second homer of the game, extending the lead to 10-7. Leah Victor recorded a pinch hit single to right field to score Hamilton to up Morgan's lead to 11-7. After back-to-back walks loaded the bases, Turner reached on a fielding error on the Bowie third baseman, which allowed Victor and Ashley Shanks to score the 12^th and 13^th runs of the game, respectively.
 
The Lady Bears finished the game scoring 13 runs on 14 hits, while Bowie State recorded seven runs on 11 hits and committed three errors.
 
Melissa Paz (1-2) picked up her first win of the season for Morgan State. Paz, who entered the game with one out in the third, pitched 4 2/3 innings, surrendered three hits and struck out a game-high six batters.  
 
Bates accounted for a game-high five of Morgan's 10 RBIs after going 3-for-3 at the plate with two homeruns, three runs and a walk to lead the Lady Bears. Hamilton went 3-for-4 with two runs and Bobos finished 2-for-3 with two runs and a RBI.
 
Alexander led the Lady Bulldogs with a team-best three hits and two runs scored, while Smith went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Buelhman finished 2-for-4 with a run and drove in a team-high four RBIs.
 
Morgan State returns to MEAC action this weekend (May 3-4) when its visits crosstown rival Coppin State (5-22, 5-10 MEAC) to close out the MEAC regular season. Saturday's doubleheader gets underway at 1 p.m., while Sunday's first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
The Eagles were eliminated from the advancing to the MEAC Tournament on Wednesday when they dropped a doubleheader to Howard, falling to the Bison 14-0 in five innings and 11-1 also in five.
 
The losses allowed Morgan State to clinch the final tournament spot out of the MEAC Northern Division. The Lady Bears (11-4 MEAC) can clinch at least a share of the division crown and the top seed with one win over Coppin State and need two wins over the Eagles to claim the title outright from Norfolk State (12-7 MEAC).