Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletic Communications


NORFOLK, Va. – When the spring sports season was shut down, it marked the end of a decade of Norfolk State athletics. From the fall of 2010 to the spring of 2020, it was a 10-year stretch that saw countless highlights across NSU's 15 total sports. Many of those programs' greatest achievements – since NSU made the jump to NCAA Division I in 1997 – came during this decade.
 
Over the course of the next several weeks, we are going to continue spotlighting those storylines right here on NSUSpartans.com. Every week, we'll choose a different sport(s) and take you down memory lane before we get set to start a new decade of excellence. In addition, head over to our Twitter page (@NSUSpartans) where fans will have the opportunity to vote for what they think is the greatest highlight per sport. At the end, they will also be able to vote for the greatest overall highlight in NSU athletics during the past 10 years.
 
As we enter Week 6 of our series, we will take a look at baseball, one of the most consistent teams for NSU over the 10-year period. We've narrowed it down to five storylines from the past decade that we'll focus on, in no particular order.
 
A.) He had come close to a no-hitter in his previous two outings, including finishing one out away in a seven-inning game the weekend before. But then on May 3, 2015, sophomore Devin Hemmerich finally broke through. In game 1 of a doubleheader against Coppin State, the left-hander threw the first no-hitter in the program's Division I history in a 6-1, seven-inning victory over the Eagles. CSU managed just three base runners, one on an error, one on a hit-by-pitch, and one on a walk. That walk in the first inning eventually scored thanks to a stolen base and a groundout and prevented a shutout. But no Eagle was able to reach base on a clean hit. It marked the first no-hitter by NSU since 1996 and the fifth all-time. And it was a harbinger of things to come for Hemmerich.
Read more about Hemmerich's no-hitter versus CSU.
 
B.) NSU found itself in the MEAC Northern Division in 2012 after the conference switched to divisions from a round-robin format. Then in 2015, the Spartans won their first of four division titles in a five-year span. It marked the first regular season title for the Spartans since joining the league prior to the 1998 season. They finished with their best MEAC record ever at 19-5 in both 2015 and '16. They also won 27 and 29 overall games, respectively, those two years for the most wins as a D-I program. Norfolk State had a lot of success during the decade, and the pinnacle of that success came during the middle part of it as NSU piled up the wins. And its stranglehold on the division, highlighted by those titles, gave the baseball program plenty of bragging rights.
Read more about NSU clinching the 2015 division title.
 
C.) With team success comes individual success. Hemmerich and Alex Mauricio found plenty of that during their playing days. But they also took it a step further. In the summer of 2017, each was selected in the MLB Draft. The senior Hemmerich was picked by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 26^th round, and Mauricio was chosen by the New York Yankees in the 27^th round. It marked the first time since 2007 NSU had a player taken in the draft, and the first time since 2000 the program had two selected in the same year. In addition, they became the 20^th and 21^st Norfolk State players all-time taken in the MLB Draft. Mauricio was drafted as a pitcher after his junior year despite also serving as one of the team's best hitters. Both had highly-decorated careers with NSU. Achieving what only a few had in program history, that put them in an elite category.
Read more about Hemmerich and Mauricio getting drafted.
 
D.) The 2019 season saw NSU advance to the MEAC Championship final for the fourth time in six years, and the fifth time in the nine years the tournament was held during the decade. That 2019 tournament also marked the closest NSU came to winning a title during that time. The Spartans won their first two games over Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T to advance to the final of the double-elimination tournament. Down to its last strike, FAMU hit a two-run, go-ahead single in the top of the ninth for an eventual 5-4 win. That was followed by an 8-1 victory in the second game for the Rattlers. The Spartans came close in 2014, winning three straight elimination games before falling 4-2 in the final, and in 2016 when they fell 1-0 in the final. Although they were unable to win the championship during the decade, their ability to make noise in the tournament on a consistent basis showed they were one of the better teams in the league year-in and year-out.
Read more about NSU's runner-up finishes in the MEAC tournament: 2019 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 | 2011
 
E.) Hemmerich and Mauricio getting drafted was quite an accomplishment, but so was what they did during their playing days at NSU. In 2017, the same year they were drafted, Hemmerich was named the MEAC Pitcher of the Year, and Mauricio was selected the MEAC Player of the Year. In fact, it was the third straight season NSU won the pitcher of the year award after Matt Outman took it home in 2015 and '16. Mauricio, meanwhile, gave the Spartans their first ever player of the year award. It was the first time a MEAC school had won those two awards in the same season since 2009. Hemmerich later earned All-America honors following his senior season, the first such accomplishment for the program in its D-I history. The Spartans had plenty of individual accolades during the decade, including MEAC Coach of the Year Awards for Claudell Clark (2015) and Keith Shumate (2019). The major MEAC awards won by the players and coaches certainly stand out.
Read more about NSU's honors: Hemmerich and Mauricio in 2017 | Outman in 2016