NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team kicks off the last month of conference play this weekend when Maryland Eastern Shore visits Marty L. Miller Field for a four-game series. The teams play a single game at 3 p.m. Friday, a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at noon on Sunday.
 
Live stats and live video will be available through NSUSpartans.com.

Four conference weekends remain for the four baseball squads in the MEAC, and there remains little separation between the teams. NSU enters the weekend in fourth with an 8-12 league mark and 11-24 overall ledger, while the Hawks are in third at 10-10 in the MEAC and 11-26 overall. Delaware State and Coppin State are both 11-9 in the MEAC, tied for first.

Both NSU (8-1 to Longwood) and UMES (15-0 to Delaware) are coming off mid-week defeats entering the weekend.

NSU-UMES Short-Hops

• This marks the second series between the teams. They split a four-game set in Salisbury, Maryland, March 18-20. NSU won  games two (9-7) and four (6-2) while UMES took games one (10-3) and three (11-3).
• Dalton Barham (Pitcher of the Week) and Raphy Rodriguez (Co-Player of the Week) collected conference accolades for their performances in that series. Rodriguez was 7-for-15 with four runs scored on the weekend and hit the go-ahead grand slam in the fourth game. Barham earned the pitching win in game four, pitching seven innings and allowing just two runs while striking out six.
• Jacob Council has led NSU's offensive charge lately, with five multi-hit games in his last 10 contests overall. His .366 batting average ranks fifth in the conference.
• Dionte Brown continues to thrive in his newer role of middle-of-the-order hitter. The Spartans' former lead-off man enters the weekend with a MEAC-high 32 runs batted in. He also ranks third in the nation with five triples.
• UMES has gone exactly 2-2 in each of its five MEAC weekend series so far. The Hawks took the first two from Coppin State last weekend, but lost the last two.
• The Hawks are led offensively by Ryan Howe, who is the only Hawk over .300 (.342) and also has a team-best three homers and 26 RBIs.
• Hawk pitcher Noah Covington has nearly half of the team's pitching wins (5-of-11) and has thrown an NCAA-leading five complete games this year.