Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State senior right hander Joey Seal (Newport News, Va.) struck out a season-high 10 batters to break the school's all-time strikeout record in an 8-3 game 1 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore, and NSU cruised to an 8-1 win behind Leon Schabacker (Virginia Beach, Va.) in game 2 for a MEAC doubleheader sweep on Thursday afternoon at Marty L. Miller Field.
The Spartans, who broke an eight-game losing streak, improve to 15-18 overall, 5-9 in the MEAC. UMES lost its 12th and 13th straight contests to drop to 5-36, 4-9.
Seal, in his fourth year with the Spartans, now has 251 career strikeouts after breaking current NSU coach Claudell Clark's record of 249. Seal pitched his second complete game of the season to run his record to 5-3 and broke the record in exciting fashion. He entered the top of the ninth with eight strikeouts, needing one more to break the career mark. He achieved the feat by fanning the final two batters of the game, getting Josh Dunham looking and Russel Deutschmann swinging.
Seal yielded five hits and three runs, two earned, with one walk over nine innings.
NSU out-hit UMES 12-5. Moriba George (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.) and Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) had three hits apiece and Brad Stephenson (Chesapeake, Va.) and Ryan Wiggins (Hayes, Va.) two each. Hairston knocked in two runs.
NSU broke open a 2-all game with a four-run fifth inning. Hairston had an RBI single, and Wiggins and Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) also drove in runs in the frame.
In game 2, Schabacker pitched his MEAC-leading sixth complete game of the season. He allowed just one unearned run over seven innings, surrendering four hits and no walks. He fanned six hitters.
George, Joyce, John Lynch (Newport News, Va.), Chase Bailey (Roanoke, Va.) and Jerrod Farley (Chester, Va.) had two hits apiece as the Spartans out-hit UMES 13-4 in the nightcap. Bailey, who did not start game 1 but ended the doubleheader 3-for-3, had a two-run single in the first and an RBI double in the fifth.
TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) added an RBI triple for the Spartans in the nightcap.
George ended the day 5-for-8 with three stolen bases and three runs scored. Wiggins, Joyce, Bailey and Hairston tallied three hits each on the day.
NSU returns to action this weekend when Savannah State visits Marty L. Miller Field for a three-game series. The teams play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday and a single game at noon on Sunday.
