Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. -- After a tight first game got away from the Hawks in the late innings, the second contest was a complete 180 degree turnaround as UMES provided the late inning heroics. The result was a split doubleheader that improved the Hawks to 6-14 overall and 4-1 in MEAC play. Norfolk took the first game 10-4 while the Hawks blanked the Spartans in game two, 3-0.

Junior Tanner Whiteman (Cazenovia, N.Y.) was nothing short of spectacular in game two, retiring one Spartan after another over seven innings. In fact, only two Norfolk State batters reached base as Whiteman hurled a one-hitter combined with five strikeouts in the win, using only 86 pitches in the process. He improved his record to 2-3 and lowered his ERA to 4.99.

The first game was close at the outset before Norfolk State pulled away for good in the seventh. UMES scored first as senior Greg Turlik (Gaithersburg, Md.) doubled home sophomore Justin Dattilo (Pittsburgh, Pa.) to take a 1-0 lead after one inning.

Fellow sophomore Jesse Stinnett (Madison Heights, Va.) cruised in his first three innings on the mound, but hit a snag in the fourth inning. With two runners in scoring position, Ishmael Herrera nailed a clutch two RBI single to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. Stinnett would settle back down again, pitching two scoreless innings to go a full six on the days, giving up two runs and striking out two.

In the seventh, Norfolk State took advantage of the Hawk relief corps, scoring six times on three hits, busting the game open 8-1. The Hawks would score three times in large part to RBIs from junior Connor Breslin (Saylorsburg, Pa.) and sophomore Skylar Murray (Georgetown, Del.), but Norfolk would hold steady, tacking on two more runs en route to a 10-4 victory.

Thanks to the pitching of Whiteman, and countered by Norfolk's All-MEAC preseason selection Devin Hemmerich, game two was a stalemate for a vast majority of the contest. It wasn't until the sixth that the Hawks finally broke through.

Junior Mike Escanilla (Waldorf, Md.) got a one out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Senior Joshua James (Milford, Del.) continued his emergence as a clutch hitter, striking an RBI single with Escanilla scoring past the outstretched glove of Spartan catcher Omar Hotusing. Dattilo singled and both he and James advanced on a throw that put runners in scoring position for freshman Quenton Hamrick (New Castle, Del.). Looking for his second hit on the day, Hamrick did not disappoint as he blasted a double of the left fielder's head, scoring both runners.

Whiteman retired the Spartans in order to seal the victory. With the victory, the team earned its first 4-1 start in conference play since 2009, a squad that went 9-9 overall in that season.

The rubber match of the series will be played tomorrow at noon at Hawk Stadium.