Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
NORFOLK, Va. – Visiting Rider held Norfolk State to a combined eight hits to earn a doubleheader sweep from the Spartans, 11-2 and 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at
Marty L. Miller Field.
With the wins, Rider took three out of four from NSU in the season-opening four-game set.
Patrick Devlin pitched five shutout innings to get the win in the opener for Rider (3-1), then Joe Calogero went 5.1 innings and allowed just one earned run in the nightcap for the Broncs.
In game one, Rider jumped out early with four runs thanks to three hits and two NSU errors in the top of the first. Nick Crescenzo doubled to lead off the game, then scored when NSU misplayed a sacrifice bunt attempt. Adam Wayman added an RBI single and Greg Fazio hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Eric Strano was hit by a Jeff Di Fulgo pitch with the bases loaded to cap the inning.
Wayman added a sac fly in the second, then had one of three straight RBI hits in Rider's three-run fourth. Brandon Cotton hit an RBI triple and Ian Lindsay knocked in Wayman with an RBI single.
The Broncs added three more runs in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI double by Fazio, to make it 11-0.
NSU got its only runs in the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore transfer Joshua Boyd made the most of his first at bat in a Spartan uniform, connecting for a pinch-hit, two-run double.
Di Fulgo got the loss for NSU, allowing eight runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings. He struck out four.
Game two was a pitcher's duel between Calogero and NSU's junior college transfer right hander Chris Horne. The Broncs struck for one in the first as Crescenzo singled, stole second, went to third on a Mike Parsons single and scored on Wayman's sacrifice fly.
Rider extended its lead to 2-0 in the fifth, and Cotton and Wayman were again responsible. Cotton tripled and Wayman singled him in as Rider doubled its lead.
The Spartans cut their deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth. Mikey Bruno walked and eventually scored on an RBI double by Ryan Montgomery to cut Rider's lead to 2-1.
But Rider's bullpen limited the damage to the single run. Tyler Smith pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.
Horne was the tough-luck losing pitcher for the Spartans. He pitched a complete game and allowed just two runs. He scattered 10 hits, walked one and struck out six in his first game at NSU.
Rafael Colon was 2-for-3 in the nightcap for NSU. Cotton went 5-for-7 with five runs scored in the doubleheader, while Wayman was 4-for-5 with five RBI for the Broncs.
The Spartans host Villanova for a three-game series next Friday through Sunday.
