Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team registered its first back-to-back shutouts in nearly six years Saturday, as starters Matt Outman and Jonathan Mauricio led the Spartans to an 8-0, 6-0 sweep of Maryland Eastern Shore at Marty L. Miller Field.

Outman pitched seven scoreless innings to win his fourth consecutive start in game 1, while Mauricio won his second straight decision by pitching his first career shutout, a four-hitter with a career-best nine strikeouts in the seven-inning nightcap. The wins moved NSU to 15-16 overall, 9-4 in the MEAC Northern Division. UMES falls to 9-24, 4-10.

The last time NSU registered two straight shutouts came on May 8-9, 2010, against Florida A&M.

Denathan Dukes tied his career high with four hits in the first game and ended the day with totals of five base hits, five runs scored and four stolen bases. Angel Rosario went 3-for-6 with four runs batted in on the day, including three RBI in the opener.

In game 1, NSU struck first as Dukes led off the bottom of the first with a double. After a wild pitch, Dukes scored on Roger Hall's RBI single for the first run of the game.

In the third, Justin Lee reached base on an error and Dukes singled. Lee scored on a Rosario groundout and Dukes crossed the plate on Hall's sacrifice fly.

Rosario doubled in Dukes in the fifth, while Chase Anderson's sacrifice fly and Ismael Herrera's RBI single extended the lead to 6-0 in the sixth. In the eighth, Dukes doubled in a run and Lee scored on Rosario's sacrifice fly.

Anderson moved from second base to the mound and pitched two scoreless innings to finish out the game 1 win.

Coming off a complete-game shutout last Saturday at Delaware State, Outman scattered four hits over his seven innings of work against the Hawks. He walked one and struck out three. With the win, he moved into a tie for second place on the school's career victories list, with 21.

In game 2, Mauricio (3-2) registered his best career outing, tossing his first-ever collegiate complete game. His previous career highs before Saturday were five innings pitched and six strikeouts – feats he has accomplished two times each. Mauricio's nine strikeouts are also the most by a Spartan pitcher this season.

The Spartans and Hawks were scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. NSU was held without a hit by UMES starter Scott Bean for the first three innings before the Spartan bats woke up in the fourth. Rosario doubled off the top of the wall in right to start the inning and scored on Kyle Vaas' long double to the gap in left-center. Alex Mauricio lined a single up the middle to score Vaas and make it 2-0.

Vaas singled in a run in the fifth and NSU got more breathing room with a three-run sixth. Rosario's RBI single was the only hit in the sixth, which included three walks, one hit batter and one UMES error.

Vaas and Rosario each went 2-for-3 in the nightcap, with Vaas knocking in two runs and Rosario one. Dukes scored two runs in the nightcap and stole two bases in both games Saturday.

The teams conclude their series with a noon game on Sunday.