NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team snapped its losing streak on Tuesday with a 7-6 victory over in-state foe Virginia Military Institute at Marty L. Miller Field.
 
The Spartans (8-20, 4-8 NEC) scored all of their runs in the first two innings of the afternoon, holding off a late Keydet (16-16, 2-4 SoCON) charge.
 
VMI took the first lead of the game, scoring two runs in the team's first inning up to bat, but the Spartans responded right back when they had an opening opportunity. After Justin Journette and Manny Jackson got on base, Brendan Burke drove both players home to tie the game 2-2.
 
The Spartans took control in the bottom of the second inning, when Jamal Ritter launched a three-run homer to right field. VMI switched pitchers after the bomb, but it didn't stop the Spartans from adding two more runs before the end of the frame on singles from Kydese Queen and Raphael Rodriguez to take a 7-2 lead.
 
Donovan Whitfield came in for Joe Lafave in the third, tossing a scoreless inning, before Parker Hampton entered the game in the fourth. The freshman got through his first frame unscathed, allowing one run in the fifth.
 
Liam Royster took the mound in the sixth inning, forcing a quick double play to head to the seventh. The Keydets earned two runs in their next opportunity at the plate, cutting the gap to 7-5.
 
Freshman Ethan Blakeney closed out the game for the Spartans, cruising through the eighth inning. VMI pulled within one on a leadoff homer in the ninth, but a clutch double play put things away for the Spartans soon after.
 
UP NEXT
 
Norfolk State heads to Trenton, N.J. this weekend for a conference series against Wagner.
 
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