Maryland Eastern Shore (7-24, 5-7 MEAC) at Norfolk State (15-14, 9-3 MEAC)  |  Marty L. Miller Field  |  Norfolk, Va.
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team plays its first home MEAC series in a month, looking to tighten its grasp on first place in the conference's Northern Division this weekend when the Spartans host Maryland Eastern Shore.
The teams play a single game at 3 p.m. Friday, and a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday. No games are scheduled for Easter Sunday.
NSU enters the weekend having won three straight MEAC series and six of its last seven games overall. The Spartans stepped out of conference to take a 9-3 win over William & Mary on Wednesday night in a game that featured a school-record 12 stolen bases by the Spartans and a complete-game, 10-strikeout performance from sophomore right hander
Chase Anderson. The win moved NSU to 15-14 overall.
The Spartans are 9-3 in the MEAC North following a 2-1 series win at Delaware State last weekend. The Spartans got strong pitching from seniors
Devin Hemmerich (6-2) and
Jonathan Mauricio (2-2) to sweep a doubleheader by scores of 3-2 and 6-4 on Sunday.Â
Hemmerich enters the weekend needing just three strikeouts to break the all-time school record of 269 in a career, owned by associate head coach
Joey Seal. Hemmerich leads the MEAC and ranks 12th in the country with 70 strikeouts this season. He is also tied for third nationally in wins and first with four complete games. His 2.31 ERA is second in the conference.
Led by Hemmerich, the Spartans lead the MEAC in team ERA (3.71) and have the three top-ranked pitchers in the conference in terms of strikeouts. Anderson (46) and
Alex Mauricio (42) are second and third, respectively.
After their 12-steal outburst on Wednesday, the Spartans now lead the conference with 64 stolen bases and rank fifth nationally with 2.2 thefts per game. Senior utility man
Brian Beard ranks second in the conference with 13 stolen bases. Beard and senior outfielder
Andre' Moore swiped three bags apiece against W&M. They are two of eight Spartans with at least five steals this year.
Maryland Eastern Shore (7-24, 5-7 MEAC) is part of a three-team tie for second in the MEAC North behind the Spartans. MDES, which dropped all three games to NSU in the teams' first meeting last month, took two of three from Coppin State last weekend to force that three-way deadlock. The Hawks did drop their mid-week contest this week, 13-5, to the Naval Academy.
Left hander Zach Mills paces the conference in ERA this season with a 1.99 mark. He was the tough-luck loser in a 1-0 loss to Coppin State last week in his last outing.Â
At the plate, Jamison Trower leads the Hawks with a .330 average and 19 RBI.Â
Links to live stats and live video are available at the top of the page.
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