Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
JACKSON, Miss. – Stephen Baughan hit a two-run homer and Chase Anderson pitched seven stellar innings to help Norfolk State take the opening game of a doubleheader at Jackson State 2-1 on Thursday evening at Bob Braddy Field. The host Tigers rebounded to edge NSU 3-2 in 10 innings in the nightcap.
Raul Hernandez hit a two-out, walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th to lift the Tigers in the second game. Otherwise, Spartan (18-27) pitchers effectively stymied a JSU (31-16) team with the most wins in the SWAC and a team batting average over .300 coming in.
Game 1: NSU 2, JSU 1
Baughan's team-leading sixth homer of the season was a two-run shot in the top of the first. His blast scored outfielder Justin Hayes, who led off the game with a single and stole both second and third bases.
That ended up being the only offense Anderson (7-5) needed to win his team-leading seventh game of the season. The junior right hander pitched seven innings, allowing just one run. He walked just one and struck out six while scattering seven hits. Freshman righthander Seth Hockett retired all six batters he faced over two scoreless innings to preserve the win and collect his first save of the season.
Anderson stranded a runner at third thanks to two strikeouts in the second, and catcher Ismael Herrera snuffed out an attempted double steal by cutting down a runner at third in the third inning for his NCAA Division I-leading 27th caught stealing of the season.
JSU finally broke through in the seventh. Lance Briggs singled and went to third on a single by David Burke. Anderson had Burke picked off first, but Anderson threw wildly to first, allowing Briggs to score. Anderson allowed another hit in the frame, but sandwiched two more strikeouts around a foulout to keep the Spartans in the lead. Hockett slammed the door from there, retiring all six batters he faced.
Third baseman Syeed Mahdi had two hits for the Spartans in the opener.
Game 2: JSU 3, NSU 2 (10)
Both teams got on the board early in the nightcap. Spartan second baseman Alsander Womack walked and scored on a two-out wild pitch in the top of the first, but the Tigers struck for a couple of unearned runs in the bottom of the first. Two NSU errors allowed the first Tiger run to score before Dezmond Chumley's RBI double put JSU in front 2-1.
The Spartans, however, tied it in the top of the second. Mikey Delgado, who reached on an error, scored on Hayes' two-out RBI infield single to make it 2-2.
The score remained knotted through the scheduled seven innings well into extras as the two pitching staffs repeatedly thwarted scoring chances on both sides. The Spartans used four pitchers in the game, who combined to strand 17 JSU runners on base. After a rough start, NSU starter Jonathan Mahoney kept the Tigers off the board over his final six innings of work, going seven innings in all and allowing just two unearned runs on seven hits. He stranded a pair of runners in the fourth and seventh innings.
The Spartan bullpen worked out of trouble in the eighth and ninth innings, leaving the bases loaded in both frames. Hockett induced an inning-ending force out to end the eighth before giving way to Joey Santos with two on in the ninth. Santos hit Briggs, the first batter he faced, to load the bases before recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
Santos couldn't elude trouble in the 10th, however. He walked Josh Crispin to start the frame, and after retiring the next two batters, Stephan Vidal also drew a walk. Hernandez then lined a single over Mahdi's head at third to score Crispin with the winning run.
JSU reliever Jose Tirado picked up the win with 1.2 scoreless innings in relief of starter Nikelle Galatas, who pitched the first 8.1 innings.
Santos (2-4) took the loss. He allowed the one hit and one run in 1.1 innings pitched.
Baughan was 2-for-4 in the nightcap and 3-for-7 for the day. Hayes had two hits, an RBI and three steals over the course of the two games.