NORFOLK, Va. – Yamaico Navarro and Russ Canzler each went 3-for-4 to lead the Norfolk Tides to a 9-2 exhibition win over Norfolk State before 7,878 fans at Harbor Park on Tuesday evening.
Despite the final outcome, the Spartans had their best offensive showing against the Baltimore Orioles' Triple-A affiliate. NSU notched a total of four hits against the Tides in shutout losses in the previous two meetings (2010 and 2011), but had nine hits and two runs on Tuesday. Second baseman Cody Ellis went 2-for-3 and knocked in NSU's first run with a groundout in the fifth. His groundout came following consecutive singles by Ryan Montgomery and Robert Barefoot.
But by that time, the damage had been done. After a scoreless first inning, the Tides scored four in the second and three in the third inning to pull away. L.J. Hoes, Chris Dickerson, Canzler and Danny Valencia had consecutive two-out run-scoring hits in the second. Luis Exposito highlighted the third inning rally with a two-run single.
The Spartans added a run on three hits in the sixth. Andre Moore reached on an infield single, and Corey Patrick followed with a single of his own. Robert Depp then scored Moore with a hard single up the middle.
Barefoot, Chase Kyriacou and Kyle Vaas went 1-for-2 for NSU, while Montgomery was 1-3. Moore, Depp and Patrick were all 1-for-1.
Troy Applin, Ryan Shook and Raymond Morton all threw scoreless innings for the Spartan pitchers.
Chris Dickerson and Jonathan Schoop added two hits each for the Tides. Freddy Garcia picked up the win with three scoreless innings of work.
The mostly pro-NSU crowd was also strong yet again. The first exhibition game between the teams drew 8,509 fans in 2010, followed by a crowd of 8,804 in 2011. Despite temperatures that were in the low 50s at first pitch and dipped into the 40s by game's end, the Spartans had another strong turnout Tuesday.
All net proceeds from the ticket sales benefit the NSU baseball program.
NSU (9-17) is back in action in a three-game series at Delaware State this Saturday and Sunday in Dover, Del.
Tides 9, NSU 2
NSU 000 011 0—2 9 2
Tides 043 002 x—9 14 0
WP – Garcia. LP – Johnson.
