LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Wes Bush’s three-run double broke a 6-all tie, capping Norfolk State’s rally from six runs behind, as the sixth-seeded Spartans topped No. 2 Bethune-Cookman 9-6 in a winner’s bracket game in the 2005 MEAC Baseball Tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex on Friday morning.
NSU (13-34) trailed 6-0 after five innings, but rallied with four runs in the sixth and five in the ninth to hand the six-time defending champion Wildcats (20-27) their first loss of the tournament.
The Spartans, trailing 6-4 entering the ninth, got consecutive singles by Ryan Reddick (Raleigh, N.C.), Ernie Banks (Chesapeake, Va.) and Juan Serrano (Naugatuck, Conn.) to start the inning and pull within 6-5. Charles LaLane (Brooklyn, N.Y.) reached on a fielder’s choice off B-CC reliever Shane Kelley to load the bases. After Kelley fanned Moriba George (St. Thomas, V.I.), the Spartans tied the game on a fielding error by third baseman Ryan Ghianda, which allowed pinch runner Whitney Moore (Springfield, Ohio) to score.
Bush (Newport News, Va.) followed with a double to left-center on a 2-2 count to clear the bases. NSU reliever Joey Seal (Newport News, Va.) then retired the Wildcats’ No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters, Jose Almonte, Omar Borges and Nabil Sagbini, in order in the bottom of the ninth to end it.
NSU began its rally with four runs in the top of the sixth. Rocco Savage (Tampa, Fla.) hit a two-run single for NSU’s first runs, and Josh Eason followed with an RBI single. T.J. Starkey (Virginia Beach, Va.) bounced into a fielder’s choice, just beating the throw at first that would have been the third out, to score Savage from third and bring NSU within 6-4.
B-CC jumped out to a big early lead off Spartan starter De’Mece Williams (Newberry, S.C.). Jon Roberts stroked a run-scoring single for the Wildcats’ first run, in the bottom of the second. In the third, B-CC second baseman Carlos Picornell doubled and scored on an error by NSU third baseman Serrano. Jose Almonte, who singled earlier, later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 in favor of B-CC.
Bobby Gilbert made it 5-0 in the fourth with a two-run home run to right, and Miguel Mercedes added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to give the Wildcats a six-run cushion.
NSU, which had 13 hits in its opening game on Thursday, had 17 more on Friday, with each starter getting at least one. Reddick was 3-for-5, and Banks, Serrano, LaLane, Savage, Bush and Eason had two each. Picornell and Rob Caruso had two hits apiece to lead the Wildcats.
Seal (3-5) earned the win for NSU, pitching four and two-thirds scoreless innings. He surrendered just two hits, walked two and struck out four.
Colin Irvine took the loss for the Wildcats. He gave up six hits and three runs, two earned, in two-plus innings of work.
NSU advances to Saturday’s winner’s bracket final against top seed North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m. The Wildcats face elimination against No. 4 Delaware State on Friday afternoon.
