Saturday: NSU at UMES, 1 p.m. (doubleheader) | Game 1 Live Stats | Game 2 Live Stats
Sunday: NSU at UMES, 12 p.m. | Live Stats
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team plays its final road MEAC series of the regular season this weekend when the red-hot Spartans (19-10 overall, 15-3 MEAC North) face Maryland Eastern Shore (13-26, 11-7) in a three-game set in Princess Anne, Md.
The teams play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, and a single game at noon on Sunday.
NSU enters the series on a Division I school-record 13-game win streak, the second-longest current win streak in Division I behind No. 8 Illinois. The Illini have won 14 straight heading into their three-game series this weekend at Penn State, which begins Friday night.
The Spartans, who have already won the season series from UMES by winning five of the first six games between the teams this year, need one win to clinch at least a tie for their first-ever MEAC Northern Division regular-season title and the No. 1 seed from the division in next month's MEAC tournament. Two wins would clinch the division title outright for NSU, with a home series against Coppin State still to be played next weekend. With 15 MEAC wins, NSU has already tied the 2012 team for the most MEAC regular-season wins in school history.
After sweeping their last four division series, the Spartans' winning streak reached 13 games with a 12-5 win at Richmond on Tuesday.
Syeed Mahdi and
Ryan Kilmon had three hits apiece, with Mahdi and
Robbie Hiser hitting their first home runs as Spartans. Kilmon finished a homer shy of the cycle.
The Spartans enter the weekend ranked first in the MEAC with a .292 average.
Denathan Dukes continues to lead the team while ranking third in the MEAC and 50th nationally with a .375 average. Dukes leads the MEAC and is sixth nationally in runs scored per game (1.12).
Six Spartans are now batting over a .300 clip. Kilmon is at .338 after Tuesday and is batting .432 with 15 RBI during the winning streak.
Angel Rosario (.330), Mahdi (.329),
Ismael Herrera (.325) and
Roger Hall (.316) are also batting over .300. Hall is tied for the MEAC lead in total RBI, with 31, and is first in RBI per game (1.07).
NSU's pitching staff has also been on a roll during the winning streak, notching a 1.85 ERA during the 13 games. NSU is now second in the MEAC in team ERA (4.46) and up to sixth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.2).
Matt Outman (6-1, 3.59) paces the league in wins,
Stephen Butt (2-1, 2.63) is fourth in ERA and
Devin Hemmerich (3-2, 3.21) leads the conference in complete games. The trio has combined to win four of the last five MEAC Pitcher of the Week honors.
UMES is led by second baseman Mike Escanilla, the league's leading hitter at .407. Right hander Jesse Stinnett anchors the pitching staff with a 4-5 record, 2.97 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 66.2 innings.
NSU took two of three from UMES last month in Princess Anne and swept the Hawks in three games in Norfolk two weeks ago. Four of the six meetings this year, however, have been decided by three runs or fewer.
Live statistics for all three games will be available through the UMES web site, www.umeshawks.com.
