BALTIMORE, Md. – Host Morgan State used one big inning in each game to come away with a pair of wins by identical 6-2 scores over Norfolk State on Sunday afternoon at Lois T. Murray Field.
The wins helped Morgan State (5-1, 4-0 MEAC) complete a four-game weekend sweep of the first conference series for both teams.
The Spartans (7-11, 0-4) held a 2-0 lead in game one.
Tuli Iosefa hit an RBI triple and
Gabby Vaughan singled her in to break a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth.
But the Bears responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Haylee Bobos hit an RBI single to start the scoring. Another run scored on a passed ball before Cayla Sweazie's two-run single put the Bears ahead for good.
MSU scored twice more in the sixth, one on an Ellen Ebbers RBI double, to account for the final margin.
Stephanie Rundlett got the win with four innings pitched for MSU. Melissa Paz picked up the save with three scoreless innings for the Bears.
NSU outhit the Bears 6-4 in the opener. Iosefa was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Bobos had two of MSU's four hits.
The Spartans also struck first in game two, scoring twice right out of the gate in the top of the first.
Jade Dixon and
Brooke Bond hit singles to start the rally. A two-out Bear error allowed the first run to score before
Jazzmaine Hammond doubled in Bond to put NSU ahead 2-0.
MSU tied things up in the bottom of the first. Aliya Ewell hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a single by Bobos.
In the nightcap, the decisive inning proved to be the third inning, when the Bears scored three times in their half. Paz singled in a run and Meike Turner's base hit brought home two more as the Bears went ahead 5-2.
Turner also doubled in a run in the fifth.
MSU pitchers kept NSU off the board after the first. Mikayla Barnard allowed two unearned runs in four innings to earn the win, while Rundlett closed it out with three scoreless innings to record the save.
Cam Andersen (4-3) took the loss for NSU, allowing just one earned run but five total in 2.2 innings of work.
Bond went 2-for-4 with a double in game two for NSU, which tallied seven total hits. She and Iosefa both had three hits over the course of the doubleheader.
Turner, Ewell and Sarah Tuzinski had two hits apiece for the Bears. Ewell scored three times and Turner knocked in three.
The Spartans are back in action next weekend, when they host a four-game series with Howard on Saturday and Sunday.
