Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
NORFOLK, Va. — Shortstop Drew Suttmiller (Chesapeake, Va.) led NSU with a 4-for-7 day, and TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) and Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) knocked in two runs apiece in the nightcap as the Spartans bounced back from an 11-0 game 1 defeat with a 6-5 win in game 2 on Saturday afternoon at Marty L. Miller Field.
The Spartans are now 12-17 overall, 6-8 in the MEAC. DSU is 16-14-1, 8-3.
The Hornets took the opener behind Dan Perkins' three-hit shutout. He walked none and struck out seven. The Hornets' first six runs that scored were all unearned, as four Spartan errors put them in a deep hole.
Mike Rizzuto went 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBI in the opener. Abe Eubank went 2-for-5, including a solo homer in the seventh inning, as the Hornets ended game 1 early due to the 1-run rule.
Suttmiller had all three Spartan hits in game 1. Quinn Bright (Virginia Beach, Va.) took the loss to drop to 3-4. All six runs he allowed were unearned.
In the second game, NSU grabbed a 1-0 lead on Griffin's RBI single in the second inning off DSU starter Josh Schmidt (4-5). The Hornets rallied with two runs in the fourth when Eubank hit an RBI single to score Jose Sanchez, and an outfield error also allowed Justin Bittner to score on the play.
But NSU answered with two more runs to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Anselmo Cantu (Virginia Beach, Va.) tied it with an RBI single, and Suttmiller followed with another to give NSU a 3-2 advantage.
The Spartans scored three more runs in the fifth, and they would need all of them. Hairston had the big hit in the inning, a long two-run double off the wall in right. Griffin also singled past a drawn-in infield in the frame for his second RBI hit of the game.
NSU starter Chase Davenport (Wooster, Ohio) cruised through six innings, but ran into trouble in the top of the seventh and final inning. He gave up a lead-off triple to Jose Portela, who scored on Wynton Weather's single to bring DSU within 6-3. Spartan reliever Ryan Davis (Gilbert, Ariz.) then walked Jim Johnson, and pinch-hitter Ryne Mailen followed with a two-run double to cut the Spartans' lead to 6-5.
But Davis retired the next three hitters to notch his second save of the season. Davenport improved to 3-3 by pitching six-plus innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, three earned, while fanning five.
Schmidt was tagged for 11 hits and six runs, five earned, in 4.2 innings.
Griffin went 2-for-3 in the second game, while Hairston, Cantu and Jerrod Farley (Chester, Va.) each went 2-for-4. John Lynch (Newport News, Va.) went 1-for-3, scored twice and stole two bases.
The teams conclude their three-game series on Sunday at noon.
