The weekend was highlighted by home runs and strike out artists as Black College Nines continues its season long coverage highlighting Who’s Hot in HBCU Baseball…
Norfolk State University
In the weekend opening three-game series, Manny Jackson homered twice and drove in all six runs as he led the Norfolk State to a 6-3 victory in extra innings over Stonehill College. Jackson, who went 2-for-5, belted a three-run homer in the third inning, then blasted another three-run dinger to walk off the 10th inning. In the second game of the series, Jackson was 2-for-4, with a run, and two runs batted in. For the series, he recorded a .357 batting average, two home runs, and eight runs batted in as the Spartans swept Stonehill.
Antonio Velasquez, in six innings on the mound, helped Norfolk State complete a three-game Northeast Conference (NEC) sweep of Stonehill College, pitching the Spartans to a 8-2 win on Sunday. The win marked the Spartans first conference sweep since joining the NEC in 2023. Velasquez gave up two runs on three hits and fanned seven.
Bethune Cookman University
For the third week in a row, Nolan Santos has struck out 10 or more batters he’s faced. Santos in seven-innings on the hill, allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits with two walks and ten strikeouts. He left the game all tied up at 4-4 before Florida A&M touched BCC to rally late to win 7-5.
Kentucky State University
Eric Turner struck out 12 LeMoyne-Owen batters in KSU 20-1 three-games series opening win. Turner in 6.0 innings pitching allowed four hits, one run, no earned run with the batters he struck out to go 3-2 for the season.
Miles College
In Miles 10-0 opening series win over Savannah State, red shirt freshman Trey Rutledge drove home five runs in the ball game. For the series Rutledge also pounded the baseball, driving in 10 runs during the three-game set.
Bluefield State University
Big Blues freshman Braeden Major in 7.0innings on the hill allowed six hits, one run, no earned runs while striking out nines batters in BSU 7-1 win over Virginia State to open the three-game series Sunday.
West Virginia State University
Tyler Lafferty had his collegiate best outing on the mound. The Mountain East Conference’s leader in earned run average, in a 6-0 win defeating Alderson Broaddus, Lafferty recorded a career-high nine strikeouts while shutting out Alderson Broaddus through five innings. He gave up two hits.
Savannah State University
Joe Smith’s timely hitting handed Miles College its only loss in the Tigers’ three game weekend series. He had 6 hits in 10 at bats for the weekend and in the final game went 4-6 hitting for the “cycle” with a double, triple and a homerun to go along with a single.