Game 1 Box I Game 2 Box
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Visiting Norfolk State pounded out 25 hits to sweep a doubleheader from Maryland Eastern Shore at Hawks Stadium on Saturday by scores of 16-4 and 6-1.
With the wins, NSU (12-17, 5-1 MEAC) is off to its best six-game start in MEAC play since the 2006 team also started 5-1. The Hawks, meanwhile, drop to 4-27, 3-5.
The Spartans had a number of offensive standouts. James Taylor went 3-for-6 with four stolen bases, six runs scored and two RBI over the doubleheader. MEAC leading hitter John Rasberry went 4-for-5 in the two games, while Chris Joyce knocked in five runs in game one and John Lynch had three in game two.
Joyce homered for the second straight game and matched his career high with five RBI in the opener. Each Spartan had at least one hit and five had two as NSU pounded out 14 hits in game one.
Both teams scored a run in the first, but the Spartans scored five runs in both the second and third innings to claim a big early lead. TiQuan Griffin broke a 1-all tie with an RBI single to get the scoring started for NSU in the second. Lynch added a two-run single and Joyce hit a sacrifice fly to highlight the five-run top of the second.
Griffin was again in the middle of a rally in the top of the third. Ryan Montgomery walked to lead off the inning and Sammy Serafine followed with a single. Griffin then hit his first triple of the year to score both runners. Brandon Hairston added an RBI triple, while Joyce and Taylor added run-scoring singles to give NSU an 11-3 lead.
The Spartans ended the first game due to the 10-run rule after plating five more runs in the seventh. Joyce punctuated the inning with a three-run homer, his second round-tripper of the season and second is as many games, and Montgomery added an RBI double in the frame.
Junior Ryan Shook (3-3) won for the second straight start. He struck out eight batters in his six innings of work. Shook surrendered eight hits and four runs, three earned. Jacob Foreman (1-6) took the loss for the Hawks, allowing 10 hits and 11 runs, nine earned, in three innings of work.
Taylor, Hairston, Joyce, Montgomery and Griffin had two hits apiece for the Spartans in game one. Griffin knocked in three runs.
NSU started quickly in the nightcap, as well. Taylor led off the top of the first with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout. Taylor then scored when Hairston, who walked, was picked off of first base. The ensuing rundown that retired Hairston enabled Taylor to dart home with the game's first run. Later in the inning, Joyce hit a two-out double and scored on a Lynch single to make it 2-0.
Lynch had another two-out RBI hit in the third, hitting a long double to left field that plated Taylor and Rasberry. Two batters later, Chris Warren followed suit with a two-run single to score Lynch and Montgomery, making it 6-0.
Freshman right hander Justin Bhatti (1-4) did the rest, tossing his first career complete game to earn his first collegiate victory. He pitched all seven innings, a career high. Bhatti scattered five hits, allowed one run, walked one and struck out four hitters.
The teams conclude their three-game series with a noon affair on Sunday.
