NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team continues its homestand this weekend by hosting its first MEAC series of the season against Coppin State at Marty L. Miller Field. Game times are 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. (doubleheader) Saturday and noon on Sunday.

The Spartans (5-12, 2-2 MEAC) opened conference play on the road last weekend, splitting a four-game set at Maryland Eastern Shore. The Spartans won games two (9-7) and four (6-2) in the series, getting seven hits from MEAC Co-Player of the Week Raphy Rodriguez over the course of the weekend. He hit the go-ahead grand slam in the series finale.

Rodriguez is tied for fourth in the league with a .339 batting average, tops on the team, and has four multi-hit games in his last five contests. Rodriguez and center fielder Dionte Brown (.309 average) have been the catalysts at the top of the Spartan lineup, with Brown ranking third in the nation with four triples. Brown (13) and Jacob Council (.322, 10 RBI) lead the team in runs batted in.

Coppin State (7-12 overall) enters the weekend with a 3-1 league record after winning its series last weekend against Delaware State. CSU scored 10 runs in each of the first two games of the series and edged out DSU 3-2 in game four to take the series.

The Eagles lead the MEAC with a team batting average of .283, led by outfielder Marcos Castillo's .351 mark. Castillo (17) and infielder Brian Nicolas (19) lead the team in RBIs.

NSU and CSU met eight times last season with the Spartans winning the last seven of the games. This year, in the new MEAC scheduling model, each team will play the other three league programs 12 times each, or a total of three four-game series.
 
Live stats and live video for all four games will be available through NSU's athletics website, NSUSpartans.com.