SUMMARY
The Norfolk State Spartans defeated the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks, 11-4, to win the rubber match on Sunday evening at Hawk Stadium.
THE SCORE
Norfolk State Spartans (18-25, 14-13) - 11
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (8-32, 7-20) - 4
(Spartans win series 2-1)
HOW IT HAPPENEDÂ
Norfolk State began the game by outscoring UMES, 9-0, in the first three innings.Â
The Hawks then flipped momentum in the fourth inning. Senior pitcher Jonah Stepner made his first pitching appearance since March, striking out one across a scoreless fourth inning. UMES carried that momentum into the bottom of the fourth, recording five consecutive hits. Jonathan Rodriguez drove in the first run on an RBI single before Julian Jimenez scorched a three-run homer over the right field wall to bring the Hawks within five.
Leading 9-4, the Spartans tallied two additional insurance runs in the sixth to expand their lead. Despite three solid innings from Wilfredo Morales and four strikeouts from Amari Hackett on the mound, the Spartans cruised through the final three frames en route to an 11-4 victory.
THE NUMBERS
The Hawks finished with four runs on nine hits and three errors while the Spartans tallied 11 runs on nine hits and no errors
Jimenez finished 1-for-5 with a team-high three RBI. Jimenez is second on the team in home runs with five on the season
Jonathan Gonzalez Perez, Henry Clausell, and Rodriguez all recorded two-hit games for the Hawks
Amari Hackett tied his career-high with two innings pitched, fanning a career-high four batters and striking out the side in the eighth inning
SENIOR DAY
The Hawks celebrated Cade Williams, Shane Stanley, Jonah Stepner, Jonathan Gonzalez Perez, Julian Jimenez, Diego Aponte, Ansel Carson on Senior Day.

UP NEXT
UMES begins a seven game road trip to conclude the season, starting with a matchup at Mount St. Mary's at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6. Live stats and the game stream will be available on mountathletics.com.
FOLLOW ALONG
Keep up with the latest from UMES baseball on UMESHawkSports.com and by following along on X (
@UMESHawkBase) and Instagram (
@umeshawkbase).