NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team hosts its third straight weekend of games at Marty L. Miller Field this Saturday and Sunday when the Spartans welcome Hofstra of the CAA for a three-game series. The teams are slated to play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday, and a single game at noon on Sunday.

The Spartans (0-6) are still in search of their first win of the season after dropping games with Sacred Heart, Iona and Stony Brook in a four-team round-robin event at Marty L. Miller Field last weekend. The Spartans were led at the plate last weekend by freshman Aaron Robinson, who earned MEAC Co-Rookie of the Week honors after batting 5-for-9 over the three games. He had two multi-hit games, going 2-for-4 against both Iona and Stony Brook. He registered a double and a triple during the weekend.

Robinson is batting .500 this season with five hits in 10 at-bats over four games played. Senior outfielder/first baseman Tony Leite leads the team with three doubles and has posted a .421 on-base percentage. Senior shortstop Justin Burrell has a team-leading three runs batted in.

Junior right handed pitcher Jonathan Mahoney had the best outing of the Spartans' three starting pitchers last week. He tossed 8.1 innings, most by a Spartan this year, and allowed just six hits and two earned runs while striking out four batters. Defensively, senior catcher Ismael Herrera has thrown out five attempted base stealers out of nine attempted.

Hofstra enters this weekend 2-2 after splitting four games with Lamar University in the Pride's first regular-season games of the year last weekend in Texas. Hofstra lost both games in a Friday doubleheader on Feb. 23, dropping decisions of 2-1 and 3-0, before rebounding to sweep a doubleheader on Saturday by scores of 3-2 and 1-0. The big story for the Pride last weekend was right hander Seamus Brazill's seven-inning no-hitter in the final game of the series. Brazil struck out five in the no-hit effort.

Vito Friscia paced the Pride with a 6-for-14 weekend at the plate at Lamar. 

Senior outfielder/pitcher Teddy Cillis was a preseason All-CAA selection for the Pride. The first-team All-CAA utility pick from last year struck out 96 in 75 innings pitched while also batting .280 with six home runs in 2017. Senior infielder Mikey Riesner received preseason All-CAA honorable mention. He hit .302 with 22 RBI last season in limited action.

Hofstra was predicted to finish eighth out of nine teams in the CAA this season in the preseason league coaches poll.

NSU and Hofstra have met five times previously, with NSU holding a 4-1 series edge. The Spartans swept a doubleheader in 2011 and won two of three back in 2009, with all previous meetings taking place in Norfolk.