Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Senior outfielder John Rasberry hit a pair of two-run homers to help the Norfolk State baseball team split a doubleheader with Savannah State on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Field. The Tigers won the opener 8-5, but NSU bounced back to win the nightcap, 11-6.
Game 1 started off as a duel between the team's top starters as both NSU's Ryan Shook (0-2) and SSU's Michael Allegretti (2-0) cruised through the first four innings. NSU scored first on an RBI single by Chris Joyce in the top of the fourth, but the Tigers got to Shook in the bottom of the sixth. SSU took advantage of two Spartan errors and got a key two-out, two-run double by Julius Green to key a four-run sixth innings.
Rasberry got the Spartans back within 4-3 on a two-run homer in the top of the seventh, but SSU extended its lead to 8-3 with a run in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the eighth.
NSU made it interesting in the ninth, loading the bases without a hit or an out. But the Spartans were limited to two runs in the inning, on a bases-loaded walk to Brandon Hairston and a sacrifice fly by Blaze Zeilman that made it 8-5. Courtrevez McTier retired Sammy Serafine on a flyout with two runners on base to end it.
Green went 3-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI in the opener for the Tigers.
Shook was the hard-luck loser despite matching his career high with nine strikeouts in seven innings. He gave up nine hits and five runs, two of them earned. Allegretti (2-0) pitched six innings, giving up six hits and three runs, two earned.
The nightcap, however, was all NSU. SSU took a short-lived 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Green led off with a single and later scored on an NSU error. But the Spartans would score the next 11 runs to break it open.
NSU scored five runs in the top of the second, highlighted by another Rasberry two-run homer, to take a 5-1 lead. Rasberry added a sacrifice fly and Serafine an RBI single in NSU's three-run fourth. John Lynch put an exclamation point on the win with a three-run homer in the seventh.
The Tigers scored five runs, all unearned, thanks in part to a trio of NSU errors in the bottom of the seventh.
NSU sophomore right hander Jordan Egan struck out a career-high eight batters in earning his first win of the year. Egan (1-0) allowed five hits and one run in five innings. Kevin Herlihy took the loss for the Tigers after yielding eight hits and eight runs, four earned, in 3.2 innings.
Spartan pitchers struck out 11 SSU batters in both games.
Rasberry drove in five runs on the day, while Lynch knocked in four runs and scored six – three in each game. Joyce and Serafine had three hits apiece on the afternoon.
The teams conclude their series on Sunday at noon.
