Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
DOVER, Del. – Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) went 5-for-6 with three extra-base hits and John Rasberry (Suffolk, Va.) knocked in four runs to help the Norfolk State baseball team split a MEAC doubleheader with Delaware State on Saturday afternoon at Soldier Field.
The Spartans (13-19-1, 5-9 MEAC) dropped game one 8-7 despite a late rally, but bounced back to score four runs in the top of the seventh and final inning to take a 9-6 win in the nightcap.
Joyce went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a two-run homer in game one, and John Lynch (Newport News, Va.) also hit a two-run shot for the Spartans. But NSU could not overcome a five-run Hornets' sixth inning. Jose Portela tied the game at 4-all with a solo home run, and the Hornets (12-21, 8-3) tacked on four more runs in the frame thanks in part to two costly NSU errors to take an 8-4 lead.
NSU rallied to within 8-7 in the eighth. Joyce hit a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, and Brandon Hairston (North Garden, Va.) added an RBI double. But Portela got the final four outs of the game, two by strikeout, to save the win for Elliott Gardner (4-2).
Rasberry was 2-for-5 with two RBI and Lynch went 2-for-3 with a homer, three runs scored and three steals in the opener. Jason Barker (Chesapeake, Va.) was saddled with the loss after allowing six runs, five earned, in 5.1 innings. He dropped to 3-4 with the defeat.
In the nightcap, the Spartans' defense again put them in a hole. In the bottom of the fifth, Abe Eubank broke a 3-all tie with an RBI single, and two more runs later scored in the frame thanks to a two-out NSU throwing error that put the Hornets ahead 6-3.
But Rasberry's two-run single in the sixth sliced NSU's deficit to 6-5. The Spartans then scored four times in the top of the seventh to take the lead. TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) tied the game with an RBI single and Ryan Wiggins (Hayes, Va.) followed with the go-ahead run-scoring single. Later, Joyce walked with the bases loaded and Lynch added insurance with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-6.
Ryan Shook (Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for his sixth save of the season. That helped make a winner out of Ryan Davis (Gilbert, Ariz.), who pitched two innings in relief of starter Chase Davenport (Wooster, Ohio).
Rasberry, Griffin and Sammy Serafine (Chesapeake, Va.) paced the Spartans' 11-hit attack with two hits apiece in game two.
Portela (1-2) took the loss in game two, allowing four earned runs in 1.1 innings of relief work. Abe Eubank led DSU with three hits and four RBI in the doubleheader.
The teams conclude their series tomorrow with a 1 p.m. game.
