Box Score | Updated Bracket | Championship Central

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., May 17, 2018—Mother Nature postponed festivities at possibly the worst possible time, but Norfolk State took advantage Thursday morning, defeating Bethune-Cookman 8-7 on a walkoff wild pitch at Sliwa Stadium to open the second day of the 2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Baseball Championship.
 
Persistent storms on Wednesday had pushed the finish of the game to Thursday morning, with the game tied 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth. The Spartans, the No. 2 seed out of the Northern Division, had runners on first and second with nobody out.
 
Tony Leite walked to load the bases once play resumed, before Stephen Baughan struck out and Justin Hayes was thrown out from third on an attempted suicide squeeze.
 
Then, with Syeed Mahdi at the plate, an errant pitch skipped to the backstop and Alsander Womack scored the winning run.
 
The Spartans (19-28) will face Southern Division top seed North Carolina A&T State later this afternoon, while Bethune-Cookman (20-33) dropped to the elimination bracket to take on Maryland Eastern Shore.
 
When the game started on Wednesday, the Spartans led 4-0 after the first inning following home runs from Baughan – a three-run bomb to left center – and Ismael Herrera – a solo shot that was also the first of his collegiate career.
 
The Wildcats answered in the top of the second, cutting the lead to 4-2 on a two-run single from Adonis Lao.
 
An unearned run in the top of the third cut Norfolk State’s lead to 4-3.
 
Norfolk State got a run back in the bottom of the third; after Womack led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball, Baughan singled him home to give the Spartans a 5-3 lead.
 
A sac fly and a wild pitch in the fourth gave the Spartans a 7-3 lead, before Danny Rodriguez doubled home a run in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 7-4.
 
The Spartans came into the top of the ninth with a three-run lead, and were one strike away from winning before the second rain delay ultimately halted things. But Michael Deeb started the scoring with an RBI single, before Jameel Edney tied the game with a two-run double.
 
Hayes, Womack, Baughan and Herrera each had two hits for Norfolk State, and Baughan had four RBIs.