NSU-DSU Box
NSU-FAMU Box
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Norfolk State baseball team earned its first win of the season, 5-2 over Delaware State on Saturday afternoon at the Savannah State Classic. In the Spartans' second game of the day, NSU rallied from an early 9-0 deficit to forge a 12-12 tie with Florida A&M. The game was called after eight innings due to darkness and will remain as a tie.
NSU improves to 1-3-1 on the season and caps its weekend in the round-robin tournament by facing the host SSU Tigers on Sunday at noon.
Against DSU at Chain Field, three Spartans' pitchers combined to limit the Hornets (3-3) to six hits. After Jason Barker (Chesapeake, Va.) gave up five hits and two runs, one earned, in 4.1 innings, relievers Ryan Davis (Gilbert, Ariz.) and Ryan Shook (Virginia Beach, Va.) combined for 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, yielding just one hit between them.
Trailing 2-1, NSU took the lead for good on a two-run double by Sammy Serafine (Chesapeake, Va.) in the bottom of the fourth.
Shook faced a tough spot in the seventh as DSU loaded the bases with one out. But Shook struck out Mike Rizzuto, and Brandon Crist was the third out after attempting unsuccessfully to steal home.
NSU added two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) hit an RBI double and Shane Hoggard (Hampton, Va.) followed with an RBI single to put the Spartans up 5-2. Joyce paced the Spartans at the plate by going 3-for-4 against DSU, while Hoggard, Serafine and Cameron Parsons (Chesapeake, Va.) had two hits apiece.
Davis (1-0) got the win with two scoreless innings of relief duty. Shook earned the save with 2.2 scoreless frames, striking out two.
The Spartans then traveled across town to Tiger Field to face FAMU, which was coming off a 16-14 win over SSU from earlier in the day. The Rattlers picked up where they left off with the bats, scoring once in the first and eight more times in the second for a 9-0 lead.
But the Spartans rallied behind first baseman Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.), who belted his first two home runs of the season. Hairston, who entered the season with two career homers, had his first career two-homer game.
NSU scored once in the third, then got within 9-4 on a three-run home run John Lynch (Newport News, Va.) in the fourth. Hairston hit his first round-tripper of the game in the fifth, and Drew Suttmiller (Chesapeake, Va.) and Serafine had RBI triples later in the inning to cut the Rattlers' lead to 9-7.
An RBI grounder by Serafine and a two-run single by John Rasberry (Suffolk, Va.) put the Spartans ahead 10-9 in the top of the seventh. The lead would be short-lived, though, as FAMU's Oscar Santola was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning.
Hairston hit his second solo homer of the day in the top of the eighth, and TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly for a 12-10 NSU edge.
But the Rattlers again had the answer. Jared Jeffries led off the bottom of the eighth with a double and scored on a Spartan error. Derrick Shaw's sac fly tied the game at 12-12, but NSU reliever Ryan Wiggins (Hayes, Va.) struck out the last two hitters of the frame. The game was then called by the umpires.
Hairston was 3-for-4 in the nightcap, while Lynch was 2-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored. Rasberry and Serafine had two hits apiece against FAMU. Trevor Hinson (Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched five effective innings of relief after the Spartans fell behind early.
Jeffries and Toby Adeyemi had three hits and two RBI apiece for the Rattlers. Adeyemi and Justin Abney hit homers for FAMU.
Serafine ended the day 4-for-9 with five runs batted in for the Spartans.
