Game 1 Box Score l Game 2 Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. – Sophomore right hander Jordan Egan struck out a career-high 12 batters to help Norfolk State win game one 7-3, and Savannah State salvaged the third and final game of the series with a 5-3 win in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader at Marty L. Miller Field.
Egan (2-2) fell one out shy of NSU's second straight nine-inning complete game. His 12 strikeouts are the most by a Spartan this season and are four more than his previous career high of eight, which he has done twice this year for NSU (17-24), which took two of three in the weekend series.
Blaze Zeilman got the scoring started for the Spartans in the bottom of the second inning in the opener, tripling in John Rasberry with two outs for the game's first run. SSU (27-21) answered with a run in the fifth as Kevin Herlihy led off with a double and scored on Julius Green's sacrifice fly to tie things at 1-all.
But the Spartans broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. TiQuan Griffin and John Lynch reached on consecutive one-out singles, and James Taylor knocked in Griffin with a double down the right-field line to break the tie. After Brandon Hairston walked to load the bases, Rasberry hit an RBI single to plate Lynch. Taylor and Hairston then scored on a Tiger error to make it 5-1.
Chris Joyce added insurance with a two-run, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh, stretching the Spartans' lead to 7-1. That hit was Joyce's 227th career hit, moving him past Andrew Dixon (1983-86) for second all time at NSU.
That was more than enough for Egan, who fell just shy of his first career nine-inning complete game. He was lifted after allowing a two-out, two-run double by Green in the top of the ninth. Ryan Morton got the final out for NSU.
Egan allowed just five hits and three runs in 8.2 innings, walking just two – both in the final frame.
Rasberry, Taylor and Lynch had two hits each for the Spartans in game one. Green had all three RBI for SSU.
In game two, SSU got out to an early lead by plating four runs in the top of the first. Emory Barkley had an RBI single and Matthew Nowacki a two-run single to highlight the Tigers' rally. Dexter Kelley made it 5-0 for SSU in the top of the second when he was hit by a pitch, stole second and eventually scored on an NSU error.
The Spartans slowly rallied, scoring two in the third. Hairston hit an RBI double and Rasberry a sacrifice fly to get NSU within 5-2.
The Spartans made it 5-3 in the sixth as Hairston walked with the bases loaded. But NSU left the bases loaded to end the frame, and couldn't mount a serious threat in the seventh.
Michael Allegretti (7-2) got the win for SSU with four innings of work. He walked five and struck out six, allowing three hits and a pair of runs. Eric Ransom pitched the final 1.1 innings for his seventh save of the year.
Ryan Davis took the loss for NSU to fall to 1-3 on the year. He allowed four hits and five runs, four earned, in one-plus inning of work. Richie Salter threw six scoreless innings of two-hit ball in relief for NSU.
Lynch added two more hits in the nightcap for NSU, which stranded 11 runners on base. Lynch was 4-for-8 with two stolen bases on the day.
Green was 2-for-2 for SSU in the second game, and Barkley also had two hits for the Tigers.
The Spartans play at VCU at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
