NORFOLK, VA—Norfolk State's pitching keyed a 7-0 and 6-1 baseball doubleheader sweep over visiting NJIT Monday afternoon, as the Spartans took three of four in the non-conference weekend series between the teams.
The Highlanders record falls to 2-5 for the season, while Norfolk State, the 2015 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference North Division champion, is 3-5.
Spartan junior RHP Jonathan Mauricio (1-0), the starting pitcher, and senior RHP Cooper Jones combined to blank the Highlanders on four hits in the 7-inning opening game on Monday. The duo struck out 6 and walked 3.
NJIT used two pitchers, as well, with junior
Bryan Haberstroh (0-1), an infielder by trade, making his first college start as a pitcher and taking the loss. He lasted 2.2 innings and allowed 6 hits.
Johnny Malatesta relieved and was charged with 6 runs (3 earned) in 3.1 innings.
The game was close until the bottom of the sixth inning. Norfolk State got one run in the first inning and another in the fourth inning before breaking the game open with a five-spot in the sixth.
Eight of the nine starting players in the Norfolk State batting order got at least one hit, topped by a 3-for-3 from leadoff man and CF Syeed Mahdi, who was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two driven in. 2B Roger Hall and 1B Brian Beard each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs for the winners.
NJIT's hits, all singles, came from four different players—LF
Evan Pietronico, 1B
Michael Anastasia, 2B/SS Rex McMillan, and C
Brady Hall.
After managing four hits in the opener, NJIT managed only three hits in losing the nightcap, 6-1.
All the scoring took place in the first two innings, with Norfolk State plating a run in the bottom of the first inning and NJIT answering with a run of its own a half-inning later. The Spartans then took control with a five-run bottom of the second inning and no one scored after that.
The only Highlander run of the day came on the first college home run for freshman 3B
Tom Brady. The other two NJIT hits were singles by 1B
Bryan Haberstroh and RF
Matt McKinnon.
Norfolk State used three pitchers to secure the Game Two win. Starter Chase Anderson (1-0) allowed the one run on 3 hits and struck out 7 Highlanders in 4 innings. Relievers Michael Parmentier and Matt Boone then combined to hold NJIT scoreless and hitless over the last 3 innings.
NJIT used four pitchers and the starter,
John Saviano (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 1.1 innings.
Andres Fernandez yielded an unearned run in one inning and
Brent Jones and
Tommy Derer combined to shut down the Spartans over the last 3.2 innings. All four NJIT pitchers in the second game are sophomores.
Norfolk State's Mahdi had another big game, going 2-for-2 , scoring two runs and driving in two at the top of the batting order. Hall also drove in two runs for the home team.
The next scheduled action for the Highlanders will take them farther south to Durham, NC, for a four-game series against North Carolina Central, like Norfolk State, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Highlanders and NCCU are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday, with Game One commencing at 1 pm. A single game is on tap for Sunday with first pitch at 1 pm.
