NORFOLK, Va. – The red-hot Norfolk State baseball team returns to Marty L. Miller Field for another four-game conference series this weekend against Florida A&M in a battle of the MEAC's two first-place teams. The first game of the series will be televised live on ESPNU at 4 p.m. Friday, while the teams also play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at noon Sunday.
Spartans on TV
Friday marks the first televised home game in NSU baseball history. Sam Ravech will handle play-by-play duties and Mike Rooney is the color analyst. ESPNU is available on many local cable plans in the Hampton Roads area through Cox or Verizon Fios, on satellite providers, and through the ESPN app.
The game will also be re-broadcast on ESPNU at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Monday.
Scouting the Spartans
NSU comes into the series sitting in first place in the MEAC North, at 14-6 in conference play at 18-21 overall. The Spartans have won nine of their last 10 games, including a three-games-to-one series victory at Delaware State last weekend. The Spartans took the first three games of the series to run their win streak to nine in a row, before DSU won the series finale 9-4 to prevent the sweep.
The Spartans hit five home runs in the three games by five different players.
Danny Hosley and
Ty Hanchey homered in game one,
Korey Singh and
Alsander Womack in game two and
Jacob Council in game four. Hosley, who was also the winning pitcher in game one, hit .571 in the four games and also tossed his nation's leading sixth complete game of the year. Womack batted .438 with six RBIs in the DSU series. Hosley leads NSU in batting at .361, while Womack is batting .348.
Womack also enters the weekend needing one base hit (current tally: 188) and one double (36) from cracking the program's top 10 lists in both categories.
Scouting the Rattlers
FAMU enters the weekend with a 15-26 overall record and 9-7 MEAC mark, good enough for first place in the MEAC South. The Rattlers have dropped five of their last seven games, including two games in their four-game series with North Carolina Central last weekend. FAMU has leads the MEAC MEAC with a .964 fielding percentage and ranks third in the league in team ERA (6.29).
The Rattlers are led at the plate by Joseph Pierini (.316 batting average) and L.J. Bryant (.314). Bryant has team highs of eight doubles and 26 runs batted in. He also has hit three homers.
Zach Morea has been one of the top relief pitchers in the conference. He has 22 appearances and has logged a 3-1 record and 3.83 ERA.
Series History
The Spartans and Rattlers split their earlier four-game series in Tallahassee from April 10-11. FAMU won the first two games, 12-5 and 6-2. But NSU won the second doubleheader by scores of 6-2 and 7-4.
NSU and FAMU also met in the championship of the MEAC Tournament the last year it was contested, in 2019. NSU won 7-2 in the first round of the tournament and entered championship day unbeaten in the double-elimination format, but the Rattlers topped NSU 5-4 and 8-1 to win the title.
Canned Food Drive
Cricket Wireless and Spartan Baseball will be collecting non-perishable food items this weekend to benefit the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.
The pandemic has heightened the need to provide food to the people in the community who need it most. The Foodbank works with dozens of partner agencies across the region to serve those in need. The food items will be collected at the entrance to the stadium.
Cricket Wireless, one of the key partners with the Norfolk State Spartans and the MEAC, is co-sponsoring the effort. Fans that donate items will have a chance to win a Cricket Wireless gift bag. There will be multiple winners each game.
