Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Norfolk State held leads in both games of Saturday's MEAC doubleheader at North Carolina A&T, but the Spartans succumbed to late-inning Aggie heroics to drop both games, 8-4 and 3-2.
In game 1, N.C. A&T (8-12, 2-0 MEAC) scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally from a 4-3 deficit. Nick Rogers hit a go-ahead grand slam off Spartan (7-7-1, 0-2) closer Ryan Shook (Virginia Beach, Va.) to provide the go-ahead runs.
The first contest was a see-saw affair. First baseman Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) gave NSU a 1-0 lead with a two-out solo homer in the top of the first. A&T tied it on Rogers' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
NSU re-claimed the lead on an RBI single by John Lynch (Newport News, Va.) in the third, and made it 3-1 on an RBI double by Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) in the fifth. But the Aggies scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to tie it.
Blaze Zeilman (St. Augustine, Fla.) gave NSU a short-lived 4-3 lead with a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the seventh, but the Aggies stormed back in the bottom of the frame. The first three batters of the inning reached of Spartan reliever Ryan Davis (Gilbert, Ariz.). Dario Little tied the game at 4-all with an RBI single. Then Rogers followed with a grand slam to left, making it 8-4.
Davis (1-2) took the loss, allowing three earned runs without getting an out. That spoiled another solid start by senior Chase Davenport (Wooster, Ohio), who allowed just three hits and one earned run (three total) in six innings.
Joyce and Cameron Parsons (Chesapeake, Va.) had two hits each in the first game.
In game 2, the Aggies scored the winning run on Alex Grubb's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, scoring pinch runner Andre McKoy.
The nightcap was another nail-biter. Rogers gave A&T the early edge with an RBI groundout in the first. But the Spartans answered with two runs in the top of the second. NSU second baseman Sammy Serafine (Chesapeake, Va.) tied it with a run-scoring single. Serafine went to second when James Taylor (Virginia Beach, Va.) was hit by a pitch. Serafine then stole third and home.
The Aggies scored an unearned run off NSU starter Jordan Egan (Virginia Beach, Va.) in the fourth. Macklin led of the inning by reaching on an NSU error. He eventually scored on Lester Rivenbark's sac fly, tying it at 2-all.
The pitchers settled in after that. Rogers (4-2) ended up going the distance, allowing just six hits and two runs while fanning 11. Egan pitched four solid innings for NSU, before Raymond Morton (Chesapeake, Va.) pitched a scoreless fifth and Joel Himan (Woodbridge, Va.) tossed three scoreless innings.
But Himan walked the Macklin and Rogers, the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth. Shook came in relief, but threw a wild pitch to moved the runners up to second and third. After a walk to Marquis Riley, Grubb's fly ball to center scored McKoy, the pinch runner for Rogers, from third.
Himan took the loss despite not allowing a hit in three-plus innings.
John Rasberry (Suffolk, Va.) led NSU by going 3-for-9 with two runs scored on Saturday.
The teams wrap up their three-game series on Sunday. The game has been moved up to a 10 a.m. start time due to the threat of rain in the area.
