Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – After coming oh-so-close to no-hitters in each of his last two starts, Norfolk State sophomore left hander Devin Hemmerich achieved the elusive feat Sunday in a 6-1 victory over visiting Coppin State in game one of the teams' doubleheader at Marty L. Miller Field. The Spartans won game two by the same 6-1 score to sweep their final MEAC Northern Division series of the season.
 
Hemmerich (4-3) threw the program's first no-hitter in the Division I era and fifth in school history to help the Spartans (23-13, 19-5 MEAC North) end their conference schedule in style. The Spartans' last no-hitter came on March 12, 1996, when John Coles (five innings) and Matthew Hemmis (one inning) combined to blank St. Paul's in a 39-0, six-inning win.
 
Hemmerich walked the game's lead-off hitter, Colin Dower, who then stole second. Dower took third on a groundout and alertly took off for home when the NSU defense turned its back on him following the putout at first. Dower slid in safely ahead of the throw home to get the Eagles on the board.
 
NSU tied the game at 1-all as Roger Hall doubled and scored on an Angel Rosario two-out single in the bottom of the first. The Spartans surged in front with a four-run fourth, highlighted by a two-run single by Ismael Herrera and an RBI single by Alex Mauricio. Hall added an RBI single in the fifth.
 
CSU's only other baserunners came on a fourth-inning error by the Spartan infield, and when Dower was hit by a Hemmerich pitch in the sixth. Hemmerich recorded two strikeouts in a perfect 1-2-3 seventh, fanning George Dragon swinging to finish off the no-hitter. The strikeout was Hemmerich's 10th of the game, matching his career high.
 
Sunday was Hemmerich's MEAC-leading fifth complete game of the season. Two weeks ago, he pitched a two-hit shutout against CSU where both hits were infield singles. Last week, he went 6.2 innings in a seven-inning game without allowing a hit before UMES managed a triple and won the game 1-0.
 
In the nightcap Sunday, the Spartans broke a scoreless tie on Rosario's two-run single in the second. Mikey Bruno and Hall hit RBI singles and Ryan Kilmon knocked in a run with a fielder's choice in NSU's three-run fifth.
 
Omar Hotusing doubled in a run to cap the scoring in the seventh.
 
Stephen Butt (4-1) earned the win in game two, allowing one run and three hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out three while lowering his season ERA to 2.17. Jeff Di Fulgo, Lane Ward, Jonathan Mauricio and Corey Haynes each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
 
Bruno (2-for-2), Troy Applin (2-for-3) and Hotusing (2-for-4) had two hits apiece in the nightcap. Rosario finished the doubleheader 3-for-6 with three RBI, while Hall added three hits and two RBI on the day.
 
The Spartans, winners of 17 of their last 20, continue their seven-game homestand on Tuesday when they host VCU at 5 p.m.