The Norfolk State Spartan Baseball team (1-0) started the season off with an 8-3 win over Mount St Mary’s University Mountaineers (0-1). In addition to the Spartans notching their first win of the 2024 campaign, this also marks Head Coach Keith Shumate’s 400th Career win.
“I’m just the one person I’m about team stuff.” Coach Shumate said. “I mean, I’ve been coaching in HBCUs where we haven’t had the support and money that everybody else did. So, I guess winning 400 It’s like winning 1000 at a rich school. It’s just a it’s just a testament to the players when they go out there and start the season the way they have and they’ve worked so hard and they’re gonna continue to work hard so nothing for me, you know, 400 is you know that’s that’s tough for people who are selfish.”
Dalton Barham was on the hill for the Spartans today. He started off the ballgame with a walk, and 2 passed balls. After settling in he was able to finish his day strong with 6 innings pitched, 6 strikeouts, only giving up 5 hits, and 3 earned runs.
“Well, the team is capable.” Coach Shumate said. “This baseball man it’s 50 degrees out here. This is a game meant to be played in 75, or 80 degrees. So you’re gonna make an error every now and then. So we’re not worried about that. The stat that we worry about is those those runs right there. It’s eight to three. So give our guys credit for just having consistent at bats. When you’re not playing defense you gotta hit. You know, so I think we’ll be fine pitching sets a tone. You know, like I said, we’re a little wild and walk some people but then he settled down, and when he settled down, I thought that was a ball game.”
Entering the Top of the third inning the Spartans were leading 2-1, and the Mountaineers came alive. After designated hitter Scott Seeker reached on an error, third baseman David Stripe hit a double to advance Seeker to third base. Shane Wockley knocked both runners in with a single to right center field making the score 3-2 in the mountaineers favor.
The Spartans entered the bottom of the sixth inning tied 3-3. Swaroop Pujari got on base first after being hit by a pitch. Cam Mazell singled to center field, and Justin Journette singled to left field to put the Spartans in a bases-loaded situation with no outs. Brendan Burke gave the Spartans the lead after being hit by a pitch.
The Mountaineers coaching staff decided to make a pitching change after pitcher Brendan Yagesh hit the batter. Luke Pryor entered the game and struck out Raphel Rodriguez. Collin Curry came up to bat next for the Spartans and drew a walk to give the Spartans another run. Jalan Jones sacrificed flyout to right field to bring in another run for the Spartans. Collin Curry got into a smart pickle at first base to take the distraction off the runner at third Brendan Burke, who was able to score easily from third, ending an electrifying 4 run half inning from the Spartans, giving them the lead 7-3.
At the beginning of the bottom of the 7th, center fielder Jamal Ritter hit a leadoff home run to give the Spartans some insurance extending their lead 8-3. The Spartan pitching staff came in and closed the door on the mountaineers only giving up 1 hit in the last 3 innings.
The Spartan will play Mount St Mary’s University Mountaineers (0-1) in the second game of the weekend series at 1 pm tomorrow and will finish out the series on Sunday, February 18, 2024, at 12 pm at Marty L Miller Field.
Spartan Echo 