NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team returns to action this weekend for another three-game set against North Carolina Central. The teams play a doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday at Marty L. Miller Field before playing the series finale at Durham Athletic Park at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Live stats and video for Saturday's doubleheader will be available through the NSU athletics web site. Sunday's game at NCCU includes live stats and live audio feeds through NCCUEaglePride.com.
This marks the second straight weekend that these two teams will square off in a three-game series. NSU (2-5) took two of three from the Eagles (4-3) last weekend. The teams split a doubleheader last Saturday in Durham, with NSU winning the first game 8-5 before NCCU won the second, 7-0. The Spartans then took the rubber game 10-5 last Sunday in Norfolk.
Senior second baseman
Alsander Womack, the preseason MEAC Player of the Year, won conference Player of the Week honors after hitting .368 with one homer, seven runs scored and six RBIs last week. He batted 4-for-10 in the NCCU series and now owns a 14-game hitting streak dating back to last season. For the season, Womack is batting .346 and fellow senior
Mason Velasquez is batting .300. Both rank among the conference's top 10 in both batting average and slugging percentage. Velasquez's three-run homer in game one last Saturday helped key the Spartans' win.
On the mound, junior right hander
Justin Walton ranks fifth in the MEAC in ERA (2.00) and sixth in opponents' batting average (.188). He struck out a career-high nine in earning the win last Sunday. Walton, graduate righty
Alex Wright and junior lefty
James Deloatch all rank in the conference's top six in strikeouts so far.
The Spartans have also swiped a league-high 20 bases, fourth-most in all of Division I.
The Eagles have been paced at the plate thus far by outfielder Luis DeLeon and infielder Cameron Norgren. Both boast 10 hits and 10 RBIs this year, tied for most in the conference in both categories. Both are hitting over .400.
Eagle Right handers Ryan Miller (0.75) and Austin Vernon (1.93) are third and fourth, respectively, in the conference in earned run average. Miller is also reigning MEAC Pitcher of the Week after shutting out NSU in last Saturday's second game.
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