NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team dropped the first game of its final regular season series, 5-3, to Le Moyne on Thursday afternoon at Marty L. Miller Field.
 
Starting pitcher Dalton Barham started the Spartans  (12-39, 7-24 NEC) off strong defensively, tossing three scoreless innings to open the ballgame. The Norfolk native tallied a strikeout in each of those frames, allowing just two hits.
 
Le Moyne (20-27, 12-18) kept Norfolk State off the board during that stretch as well, however, keeping things tied up. The Dolphins broke through in the fourth inning with a string of hits to score four runs. Barham got out of the frame with bases loaded, preventing any further damage.
 
Norfolk State began to fight back in the fifth inning, starting with back-to-back singles from Kydese Queen and Raphael Rodriguez. The pair advanced on wild pitches, both eventually reaching home to cut the gap in half, 4-2.
 
Joe Lafave took the mound for the Spartans in the seventh inning, as the Dolphins scored an unearned run to increase their lead. Lafave settled in from there, pitching a 1-2-3 eighth inning and getting out of the ninth unscathed.
 
Jalan Jones gave Norfolk State life with a solo home run to right field in the eighth, but the rally ended there. Le Moyne reliever Billy Hoffacker closed out the final two innings as the Dolphins snapped their three-game losing streak.
 
 
UP NEXT
 
Norfolk State and Le Moyne close the regular season with a doubleheader on Friday afternoon, with first pitch slated for 12 p.m. The Spartans will honor seven student-athletes for senior day at 11:30 a.m.
 
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