The Norfolk State baseball team continued its hot hitting, pounding out 12 more extra-base hits while sweeping a doubleheader from Coppin State on Saturday by scores of 10-5 and 9-3 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
Dionte Brown hit his first career home run in the nightcap and drove in five during the Saturday sweep, which gave the Spartans (7-14, 3-1 MEAC North) three wins in the four-game weekend conference set. Mason Velasquez homered in the first game for NSU, his second homer of the series.
In game one, Velasquez’s solo homer in the second gave NSU an early lead. The Eagles responded with two in the bottom of the second, but NSU broke the game open with an eight-run third. Cody Donnell and Danny Hosley started the rally with back-to-back triples to open the frame. Alsander Womack knocked in Hosley with a sacrifice fly to give NSU a 3-2 edge.
But the Spartans were far from done. Three walks and an error left the door open for NSU, and the Spartans made CSU (5-13, 3-5) pay as Minjae Hong hit a two-run double and Brown a two-run single to stretch the lead to 9-2.
Womack doubled and scored on a Velasquez groundout in the sixth for NSU’s final run in the opener.
The Eagles scratched across single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh, but the Spartans prevented CSU from piecing together a big inning.
Alex Wright (1-3) registered his first win as a Spartan in game one. The right-handed grad transfer struck out a season-high eight and yielded five hits and three runs in the victory. Nicky Wohleking and Tyrin Everette finished off the win for the Spartans, each working one inning in relief.
Hosley was 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the opener. Brown, Velasquez and Hong also drove in two apiece.
In game two, the Spartans scored all of their nine runs in the first four innings. Brown and Womack led off the game with consecutive walks, and two outs later, Jacob Council doubled them both in to give NSU a 2-0 lead.
In the second, Adam Collins led off with a single and scored on an RBI double off the bat of Raphy Rodriguez. The hits kept coming in the third, as Womack and Ty Hanchey both doubled to start the frame. Korey Singh later singled in Hanchey as the lead swelled to 5-0.
CSU plated one run in the third, but the Spartans couldn’t be slowed. Donnell reached on an infield single to start the fourth, and Rodriguez reached base on an Eagle error. Brown then cleared the bases by smacking a three-run homer to left-center. Velasquez’s RBI double plated Hanchey later to cap a four-run uprising in the fourth.
Mike Dorcean hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth for the Eagles, but the hosts couldn’t manage anything else against Hosley (3-0), NSU’s starting pitcher in the nightcap. The right hander won his third straight start and recorded a third consecutive complete game in doing so. He allowed just four hits and three runs, walked two and struck out six.
Every Spartan starter had at least one hit in game two, which saw NSU outhit the Eagles 11-4. Hanchey and Council both finished 2-for-4 in the game. Hanchey, Womack and Brown all scored twice.
For the day, NSU had 20 hits by 12 different players. Hanchey recorded three hits, scored three times and stole two bases. Brown drove in five runs and Velasquez three.