Norfolk State ended a longstanding trend it desperately wanted to end against North Carolina A&T as the Spartans eliminated the Aggies from the 2008 MEAC Baseball Tournament with a 10-5 win at Marty L. Miller Field on Saturday.
With the win, the Spartans advanced to the championship round against Bethune-Cookman Sunday afternoon at 2. The win also marked the first time in five seasons Norfolk State will not be eliminated from the tournament by N.C. A&T.
After losing to the Aggies to open the tournament on Thursday, the Spartans (25-23) are playing for a conference title thanks to winning four straight games over the last two days. The Spartans must beat the Wildcats twice to win the MEAC title because they advanced to the championship round through the loser’s bracket.
Brad Stephenson and Chris Joyce led the Spartans on Saturday night by recording two hits and three runs apiece. TiQuan Griffin added two hits and two RBIs. Norfolk State got off to an early start against the Aggies by scoring eight runs over the first four innings of the game. Anselmo Cantu gave the Spartans a 3-0 lead in the first with a two-run RBI double to right field. Griffin followed with a RBI single to center field for an early 4-0 advantage.
The Aggies responded by scoring a run in the first and a run in the second to pull to within one. But the Spartans pulled away for good in the third and the fourth. Stephenson scored on a balk by Aggies starter Donald Howerton in the third and Griffin followed with a RBI triple to give the Spartans a 6-3 lead.
The Aggies ran into more trouble in the fourth as reliever Ryan Sellers walked in a run. After Sellers was replaced on the mound by Jody Calloway gave up a RBI sacrifice fly to give the Spartans a comfortable 8-3 lead.
Norfolk State starter Frankie Caldeyro (2-4) held on to get the win after pitching 7 1/3 innings, giving up just one earned run and striking out three. Howerton (2-6) took the loss. Offensively, the Aggies were led Lester Rivenbark’s two RBIs. Jeremy Jones, James Howard and George Hines add two hits apiece. The Aggies season comes to an end at 29-30.