Senior Brandon Hairston hit his second homer in as many games and classmates Chris Joyce and TiQuan Griffin had three hits apiece as Norfolk State celebrated Senior Day with an 8-3 victory over Longwood on Saturday at Marty L. Miller Field.
Many of NSU's nine seniors played a role in the victory, which completed a Spartan (21-27) sweep of the short two-game series. Hairston launched a two-run blast to center field in the bottom of the first to start the scoring. Joyce followed with a long double, and scored on sophomore third baseman Ryan Montgomery's RBI triple to stake NSU to an early 3-0 lead.
Longwood (28-18) picked up a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to get within 3-2. Scott Laabs drove in one with an RBI groundout, then Matt Dickason followed with a run-scoring single.
But the Spartans got those runs back, and one more, in the bottom of the sixth. Cameron Parsons led off with an infield single and later scored on a Sammy Serafine double. Serafine then came home on Griffin's second hit of the day, a single up the middle that made it 5-2 in NSU's favor. Griffin then trotted home on classmate John Lynch's single to push the margin to four.
NSU tacked on two more insurance runs in the eighth as Griffin singled for the third time on the day and scored on a double by Lynch. Lynch later scored on a Mark Montgomery wild pitch.
Ray Morton (3-3) picked up the win with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. He relieved starter Justin Bhatti (4.1 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run) in the fifth and got out of jams in both the fifth and sixth innings while keeping NSU in front.
Matt Gwaltney (5-6) took the loss for the Lancers, allowing 10 hits and six runs, five earned, in 5.1 innings of work.
For the complete story, visit www.nsuspartans.com
North Carolina A&T Aggies Split With Savannah State
SAVANNAH, Ga. - Xavier Macklin and Kelvin Freeman homered, and the Aggies held off a late Savannah State rally to earn a 10-8 win over the Tigers in the first game of a Saturday baseball doubleheader played at Tiger Field. The Aggies lost the seven-inning second game 4-2.
On Saturday, the Aggies took control of the game in the third with an impressive six-run inning. Andre McKoy opened the scoring with an RBI single to center field to score Carvell Copeland who moved into scoring position thanks to a single and an error. Luke Tendler provided run No. 2 with an RBI double to left field.
Dairio Little scored two more Aggie runs with an RBI single that plated Macklin and Tendler for a 5-4 Aggies lead. Freeman solidified the strong inning with a two-run homer to left field. The Aggies steadily added to their lead. Mark Nales produced an RBI in the fifth. Marquis Riley flew out to center field that allowed Stefan Jordan to score on a sacrifice fly. Carvell Copeland made it 10-5 with an RBI single in the seventh.
The Tigers battled back, however. An error and a Chris Arnold RBI single helped the Tigers score two runs in the eighth. They moved to within two on a Matthew Nowacki RBI single in the ninth. But with the tying run on first, reliever Ryan Carlton got Dychal Bowles hit into a force play to end the game.
Copeland led the Aggies with three hits. Freeman, Tendler and Jordan had two hits apiece. Freeman and Little had two RBIs apiece.
Copeland had two additional hits in the second game. N.C. A&T took a 1-0 lead in the third as Nales reached second thanks to an error. A second Tigers' error allowed Nales to score. Savannah State answered with two runs in its half of the third. Macklin tied the game at two on his second home run of the day.
The home run was Macklin's 19th of the year. It gives him 46 home runs for his career. Matthew Oglesby had the final rebuttal as his RBI single gave the Tigers the lead for good. With the doubleheader split, the Aggies moved their record to 20-31. Savannah State is 28-23.
Esterlin Paulino (6-5) held on for the win in Game 1. Nick Oelker (7-3) endured the loss in the second game.
For the complete story, visit www.ncataggies.com or www.ssuathletics.com
Rattlers Fall To Jacksonville In Season Finale, 8-1
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (May 14) - Florida A&M dropped their final game of the season as Jacksonville scored six runs in the second inning to hand the Rattlers a 8-1 loss , Saturday afternoon at Sessions Stadium, after a five-hour rain delay.
FAMU (17-38) tallied six hits, while JU (32-18) garnered a game high seven hits.
Tobi Adeyemi led the Rattlers from the plate as he garnered a team high two hits, while Kevin Lehane collected three hits to lead the Dolphins.
Matthew Tomshaw (6-3) picked up the win for JU as he struck out one and gave up three hits in two innings of work, while David Duncan (3-7) received the loss as he gave up two hits, one earned runs and striking out one in one inning of work.
JU took a 6-0 lead after two complete inning of play.
FAMU would score their lone run in the top of the third inning as Adeyemi homered to left field.
The Dolphins would score two run s in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Lehane two-run homer to left field for the 8-1 final.
For the complete story, visit www.famuathletics.com