Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

NORFOLK, Va. – Three Maine pitchers combined to limit host Norfolk State to 13 hits and four runs to sweep a doubleheader from the Spartans by scores of 4-2 and 6-2 on Saturday afternoon at Marty L. Miller Field.

Mike Connolly earned a win in game 1 and the save in game 2 for the Black Bears (9-14), pitching a combined eight scoreless innings to lead the pitching effort.

Game 1 went 11 innings, but Maine broke a 2-2 deadlock by scoring twice in the 11th inning thanks to a balk from NSU reliever Chris Horne and a sacrifice fly by Fran Whitten.

Maine took a short-lived 1-0 lead after the top of the first. Lead-off man Michael Fransoso started off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third. He scored from there on Ian Leisenheimer's sacrifice fly.

But NSU answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the first. James Taylor led off with a single and scored from first on a double by Rafael Colon. Cameron Day made it three consecutive hits when he smacked an RBI single to center field, scoring Colon with the go-ahead run.

Fransoso was at it again in the top of the third, leading off with an infield single. He scored on a two-out single off the bat of Tyler Patzalek to knot the score at 2-all.

Both starting pitchers, Maine's Shaun Coughlin and NSU's Ryan VanAssche, settled down after that. Coughlin went 5.2 innings and allowed just the two runs. VanAssche held the Black Bears off the scoreboard after the third, tossing four consecutive scoreless frames.

All told, the teams' pitchers matched zeroes on the board for the next seven innings before Maine broke through in the top of the 11th against Horne. Horne, who did now allow a run in his first three innings of work, walked Patzalek to lead off the 11th. Alex Calbick then singled pinch runner Robbie Trask to third, and Calbick took second on the throw. Horne then balked, allowing Trask to score and Calbick to take third. Whitten followed with a sacrifice fly to score Calbick, making it 4-2.

Connolly (2-3) worked around a lead-off single by Shane Hoggard in the bottom of the 11th to finish of the win for the Black Bears. Connolly pitched the final 5.1 innings to earn the win. He gave up just two hits, walked one and struck out four.

Horne (2-3) took the loss for NSU, allowing three hits and two runs in four innings pitched. VanAssche was solid in a no-decision, giving up two runs and seven hits with five strikeouts in seven innings.

Taylor and Chase Kyriacou had two hits each in the first game. Fransoso, Whitten, Patzalek and Colin Gay did likewise for Maine.

Maine struck first in game 2 as Fransoso and Scott Heath led off the game with singles off Jeff Di Fulgo. A fielding error by Di Fulgo loaded the bases. Di Fulgo got Patzalek to ground into a double play to stall the rally, but Fransoso scored the game's first run on the play.

Leisenheimer extended the Maine advantage to 3-0 with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the fifth.

The Spartans finally broke through against Black Bears' starter Jeff Gibbs in the fifth. Chris Warren led off with a double and eventually scored on a Gibbs wild pitch. Hoggard later hit an RBI single to draw NSU within 3-2, although Connolly – making his second relief appearance of the day – got out of a bases-loaded threat by getting Kyriacou to bounce into a fielder's choice.

But the Black Bears quickly got the two runs back on a two-run single by Troy Black in the top of the sixth, and made it 6-2 on Leisenheimer's sacrifice fly later in the frame.

Di Fulgo (0-4) took the loss after yielding nine hits and five runs (four earned) in five-plus innings.

Gibbs (1-4) was the winner in the nightcap, after striking out nine hitters and giving up just two hits and a pair of runs in 4.1 innings of work. Connolly worked the final 2.2 innings for his second save of the season.

Heath, Gay and Black had two hits apiece in the nightcap for the Black Bears. Gay finished the day 4-for-6 and Leisenheimer had four RBI in the doubleheader.

Colon finished the day 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles on the afternoon.

The teams wrap up their four-game series on Sunday with a 1 p.m. contest.