NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team begins its quest to capture the school's first-ever MEAC baseball title this Thursday at the 2019 MEAC Baseball tournament in Daytona Beach Florida.

The double-elimination tournament gets underway Wednesday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, home of the Class A-Advanced Daytona Tortugas (Cincinnati Reds affiliate).

By virtue of winning the MEAC Northern Division regular-season title, the Spartans (22-24 overall) receive a first-round bye and thus do not play on the first day of tourney action. NSU faces the winner of Wednesday's game between South No. 2 Florida A&M and North No. 3 Delaware State at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The other first-round game Wednesday pits North No. 2 Coppin State vs. South No. 3 Savannah State at noon. Losers of the first two games meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in an elimination game.

Only the top three teams from each division advance to this week's championship tournament. Maryland Eastern Shore placed fourth in the Northern Division, while both Bethune-Cookman and North Carolina Central failed to advance from the Southern Division. NCCU and BCU tied with Savannah State for third place in the South, but the Tigers nabbed the third seed based on a higher winning percentage against the other two tied teams.

The Spartans claimed their fourth Northern Division crown in five years by posting a 17-7 record against division opponents. NSU won its final five division series and 10 of its last 12 conference games in all to secure the top spot.

They did it thanks in part to an aggressive offense. NSU finished the season with a program Division I-era record 118 stolen bases, far and away the most in the conference and eighth-most in the country. The Spartans also led the conference with 127 extra-base hits and batted .307 in MEAC games, second-best among conference squads.

Sophomore Alsander Womack ranks second in the MEAC (25th in Division I) with a .389 batting average, second with a .458 on-base percentage and fourth with a .510 slugging percentage. Junior Stephen Baughan is hitting .301 with a MEAC-best 19 doubles and five home runs, tied for fourth in the league. Senior Justin Hayes has swiped a MEAC-leading 30 bases, most by a Spartan individual in the Division I era (since 1998). Hayes is one of six Spartans with at least 10 steals. Caleb Ward's 39 RBIs pace the team and are fourth-most among MEAC batters. Each of those four Spartans were named to the All-MEAC teams.

NSU's pitching staff has logged a 4.06 ERA in conference-only games. Senior right handers Jonathan Mahoney (5-2) and Chase Anderson (4-1) went a combined 9-3 in their MEAC starts. Anderson's 89 strikeouts for the season are No. 3 among MEAC pitchers. Fellow senior Trey Hanchey has posted four saves, a 3-0 record and 2.25 ERA in 16 appearances out of the NSU bullpen.

The Spartans have advanced to the MEAC championship round eight times in their history, most recently in back-to-back tournaments in 2016 and 2017, but are still seeking their first-ever title. NSU has won at least one game in 12 straight MEAC baseball tournaments.

Live stats for all tournament games are available through the MEAC web site and are linked to the top right of this page. FloSports will broadcast the championship round on Saturday.