Box Score
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NORFOLK, VA. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) – The North Carolina Central University baseball team was held to four hits, left 11 runners stranded, and struck out 12 times on Tuesday afternoon in an 8-4 defeat to Norfolk State University in non-conference action at Marty Miller Field in Norfolk, Va.
 
In the top of the first inning with two outs, NCCU loaded the bases after Luis Diaz (Geneva, N.Y.) was hit-by-a-pitch, Troy Marrow (Lutherville, Md.) and Carter Williamson (Roanoke, Va.) reached base on back-to-back walks, but the Eagles could not convert on the opportunity as Ross Plummer (Winston-Salem, N.C.) struck out.
 
The Spartans scored the game’s first run on a hard line drive that ricocheted off of Marrow’s glove allowing Mikey Bruno to score from third putting NSU up 1-0.
 
Despite not recording a hit, the Eagles managed to plate a run in the third inning to tie the game a 1-1 on a RBI groundout by Williamson giving him a team-high 35 on the year.
 
Norfolk State answered with three runs in the bottom of the third on a RBI triple by Bruno that scored two runs and Cameron Day’s RBI single to put the Spartans up 4-1 after three complete.
 
It was not until the top of the fourth inning that the Eagles registered the first hit of the day which was an RBI single to left field by Diaz to give him 23 RBI on the year and cut the deficit to 4-3 as the Eagles plated two runs in the frame.
 
The green and gold added another run in the bottom of the fourth to give the Spartans a two-run advantage at 5-3 on Chase Kyriacou’s RBI single.
 
A leadoff double by NSU catcher Chris Warren and yet another Kyriacou RBI single led to another run which gave the Spartans a 6-3 advantage after six complete innings.
 
In the seventh inning, NCCU’s offense woke up with two outs as the Eagles wrapped three hits in-a-row as Etienne Farquharson (Inagua, Bahamas) drove in his eighth RBI of the year to cut the margin to two at 6-4. 
 
The final two runs of the game scored in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the contest at its final resting place at 8-4 as the Spartans moved their all-time record against the Eagles to 10-1.
 
In the loss, NCCU (13-28, 9-8 MEAC) recorded just four hits for the fifth time this season, and amassed the second-most strikeouts in a game this year, with the most being 14 against Duke on Feb. 22.
 
Ruben Rios (Fortuna, Calif.) took the loss for the Eagles to drop his record to 1-3 in a little over seven innings of work as Richie Salter moved his record to 3-0 on the year for the Spartans in three innings to earn the win.
 
Norfolk State (15-21, 10-7 MEAC) has won four in-a-row and were led by a trio of Spartans that recorded three hits apiece on the day.  Kyriacou went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI, Day finished 3-for-4 with two runs, and Warren went 3-for-4 with three runs in the win for NSU.
 
The Eagles move on to face yet another crucial MEAC weekend series as NCCU travels to Savannah State to battle for second place in the Southern Division as the Tigers will enter the weekend with a 8-8 mark in league action, while the Eagles are a half-game ahead at 9-8.  That series will begin with doubleheader action this Saturday, April 28 at 1:00 p.m. from Tiger Field in Savannah, Ga.
 
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