Box Score
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Fourth-seeded Norfolk State continued its offensive roll by pounding out 19 hits to surge past No. 3 seed North Carolina A&T, 14-4, in the first round of the MEAC Baseball Tournament on Wednesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
Brandon Hairston, John Rasberry, Chris Joyce and Ryan Montgomery had three hits apiece for NSU (22-27), which advances to a 2 p.m. Friday contest against second-seeded Delaware State. Joyce added four runs batted in on a pair of doubles, and Chris Warren drove in three runs for NSU.
NSU jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the top of the fourth, weathered a brief rally from the Aggies (20-33), then put the game out of reach with a five-run seventh.
The Spartans struck first with a run in the top of the second. Rasberry and Joyce led off with consecutive singles off A&T starter Esterlin Paulino (6-6). Montgomery then reached first, loading the bases, after his sacrifice bunt attempt was mishandled by the Aggies. Warren followed with a sacrifice fly to score Rasberry.
NSU added to its lead in the top of the third. Spartan all-time hits leader John Lynch led off with a long double to left field and Hairston singled him in. Later in the frame, Montgomery and Sammy Serafine also added run-scoring singles to push NSU's lead to 4-0.
The Spartans doubled their lead with a four-run top of the fourth. Hairston hit another RBI single, then Rasberry stroked a two-run single for his third hit of the day. Rasberry later scored on another Warren sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.
But the Aggies cut their deficit in half by scoring four times in the bottom of the fourth. Kelvin Freeman pushed across the first run with an RBI single. Two batters later, Stefan Jordan hit a bases-clearing, three-run double to bring A&T within 8-4.
The Aggies had a prime opportunity to cut further into the NSU lead in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with a pair of singles and a walk from NSU starter Ryan VanAssche. But VanAssche (7-6) got Freeman to hit into an inning-ending fielder's choice.
NSU, on the other hand, would make the most of its next chance. In the seventh, Serafine singled and later scored after a James Taylor single. Then with two outs and the bases loaded, Joyce served a Garrett Braun offering into the gap in right-center field, scoring three runs and breaking the game open. Joyce scored the final run of the inning on a Warren single, which extended the Spartans' advantage to 13-4.
Joyce added another RBI double in the top of the ninth.
Lynch, Serafine and Taylor added two hits each for the Spartans, who have now scored 43 runs on 54 hits in their last three games since a 6-2 loss to the same Aggies one week ago. Rasberry scored four runs, while Hairston and Lynch scored three times each.
VanAssche allowed nine hits and four runs in five innings to collect his team-leading seventh win of the season for NSU. Jordan Egan notched his second save with four scoreless innings of relief. Egan fanned four Aggies.
Paulino allowed 11 hits and eight earned runs in three-plus innings. Freeman and Andre McKoy had two hits apiece for the Aggies, who play a 6 p.m. game Friday against the winner of Friday's 10 a.m. game pitting Florida A&M against UMES.
