Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State jumped to an early 2-0 lead, but North Carolina Central pulled away in the middle innings and held off the Spartans, 6-3, on Wednesday evening at Marty L. Miller Field.

Brian Beard has a season-high three hits for the Spartans (3-6). Ellington Hopkins and Carlos Ortiz had two hits and Zachary Marszal had two RBI for the Eagles (5-4) in a non-conference game pitting two squads from opposite divisions of the MEAC.

The Spartans wasted no time in taking an early 2-0 lead. Syeed Mahdi led off the bottom of the first inning with a single before NCCU starter Devin Sweet issued consecutive walks to Alex Mauricio and Roger Hall. Angel Rosario's groundout scored Mahdi with the game's first run. Kyle Vaas then delivered a two-out RBI single to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Eagles tied the game with a pair of two-out runs in the third. Conrad Kovalcik's double scored Thomas Prospero, and Kovalcik scored the tying run on a single by Marszal.

NCCU took its first lead in the top of the fifth. Ortiz singled to lead off the inning and chase NSU starter Cooper Jones. Ortiz stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Marszal's fielder's choice grounder off Spartan reliever Matt Boone.

The Eagles tacked on single runs in the sixth, seventh and ninth. Prospero's safety squeeze plated a run in the sixth, while John Ortiz walked and scored on a Spartan error in the seventh to make it 5-2.

NSU scored an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on first and second, NCCU reliever Jamar Hinton appeared to strike out Kevin Granger for the third out of the inning. But the third strike was dropped, and Granger outran Eagle catcher Conrad Kovalcik to first base, which the Eagles were not covering. Angel Rosario, who was on second, scored from second at the end of the play as Kovalcik had vacated home plate.

But the Eagles got the run back in the ninth as John Ortiz doubled and scored on Christian Triplett's single.

Devin Sweet (1-1) got the win for NCCU, allowing four hits and two runs in 5.1 innings. He walked five but struck out seven. Justice Sampson picked up the save with a perfect ninth inning.

Jones (0-1) took the loss for the Spartans. He struck out five batters in four-plus innings, allowing six hits and three runs in his first start of the season. He achieved a rare feat in the second inning, when he fanned four Eagle batters. He struck out John Ortiz, Triplett and Bryant Battle in succession, all swinging. But Battle reached first on a dropped third strike. Jones proceeded to fan the next batter, Sisqo Scott, on a called third strike for the fourth whiff of the frame.

Spartan pitchers Boone and Alex Mauricio added three strikeouts apiece to give NSU's pitchers 11 on the day. The trio of NCCU pitchers had 12 punchouts.

The Spartans are back in action this Saturday and Sunday when they host Wagner for a three-game series.