NORFOLK, Va. (March 10, 2023) – The box score from this one will not be one the pitchers want to spend a lot of time looking at, but the hitters might enjoy it. The Northeast Conference opener between the Sacred Heart University baseball team and Norfolk State was a busy affair, as eight pitchers combined to yield 25 runs on 31 hits in the opener of a three-game series at Miller Field. When all the dust settled, Justin Jordan (Darien, Conn.) was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI, while Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, Conn.) clubbed his second home run of the year, but SHU dropped a 14-11 affair to the Spartans.
The bats were active from the beginning, as Norfolk State (3-9, 1-0 NEC) staked out a 3-2 lead through just one inning of play. From there, SHU (4-7, 0-1 NEC) used two in the third and three more in the top of the fourth to build out a 7-3 lead of its own. In the third, Donnelly went deep to right field for a two-run homer. In the fourth, Jordan laced a two-run triple to right field and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.). It was Jordan's second triple in just seven games to open the season.
Norfolk State responded immediately with one in the fourth, and then asserted control of the game with a five-run fifth to jump to a 9-7 lead. Justin Journette had the biggest blow of the fifth, with a two-run single to left field, which gave him three RBI, following a solo homer in the fourth. Also in the fifth, Steven Shaffer had an RBI infield single, Dionte Brown drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and another run scored via a wild pitch.
The Spartans added some insurance in the sixth to make it 11-7. Cam Mazell provided an RBI single to right and another run scored on an errant pickoff attempt.
From there, the teams largely traded runs the rest of the way. SHU trailed 14-9 heading for the ninth inning and got a pair back on an error, but could get no closer. The Pios got the tying run to the plate, in the form of Jordan, but the Spartans called to the bullpen for right-hander Joe Lafave. Lafave wound up the only of the game's eight pitchers to not surrender a run, as he got a first-pitch flyout from Jordan to end the game and chalk up his first save of the season.
Neither starting pitcher hung around all that long, and neither factored in the decision. For SHU, right-hander Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) threw 75 pitches (54 strikes) over four innings of work, allowed four runs on nine hits, walked one and struck out four. For Norfolk State, it was just two innings on the mound for right-hander Zac Capps, who gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out three.
Right-hander Jake McDowell (Brookfield, Conn.) had a rough relief outing and suffered the loss (0-1) for the Pios. In one inning on the hill, he was charged with five runs on six hits, with one strikeout. Right-hander Max McCrary (2-1) turned in 4.2 good enough innings for the Spartans to pick up the win, as he surrendered four runs (two earned) on five hits, walked one, hit two batters and struck out five.
SHU and Norfolk State will meet again at 1 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday at Miller Field.
