NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State split a MEAC baseball doubleheader with Coppin State on Saturday in cool, blustery conditions at Marty L. Miller Field. The duo of James Deloatch and Jackson Sanchez pitched the Spartans to a 2-1 win in the opener, while the Coppin bats awoke late in game 2 for an 11-3 win.

The Spartans are now 7-13, 4-3 in the MEAC and have won three of their last four. They will go for the series win on Sunday.

Deloatch (3-1) picked up his team-leading third win of the season in the opener, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Sanchez allowed just one unearned run in 2.1 innings of relief to get the save.

Neither team scored until the fourth inning. In the bottom of the frame, Steven Shaffer led off the winning with a walk. One out later, Phillip Boykin singled to put two men on. Dominic Joseph walked to load the bases.

Leadoff hitter Raphy Rodriguez followed by hitting a fielder's choice to shortstop. The Eagles threw the ball away after recording one out, which allowed two runs to score on the play.

That ended up being all the offense NSU needed, as the Spartans had just two hits in the opener. CSU (8-14, 4-3) got one run back in the sixth when Corey Miley scored on a two-out Spartan error, but Sanchez retired the last four batters he faced to pick up his first save of the year.

In game 2, the Spartans took an early 1-0 lead in the first. Dionte Brown was hit by a pitch and stole second before scoring on a two-out single by Jacob Council.

The score remained that way until the fifth as NSU starter Zac Capps and Eagle hurler Rashad Ruff kept their opposing offenses at bay in the early innings. CSU finally broke through in the fifth, loading the bases on two walks and a bunt single. A squeeze bunt tied the game up before a swinging tapper up the third-base line by Sebastien Sarabia scored the go-ahead run.

That opened the floodgates, as Marcos Castillo singled in two more runs and Josh Hankins knocked in one more to give the Eagles a 5-1 edge.

CSU proceeded to tack on two more runs in the sixth and four in the seventh. NSU scored but twice more, both in the sixth, as Tommy Woods tripled in a run and scored on a sacrifice fly by Boykin.

Rodriguez went 2-for-4 in game 2 and had three hits on the day for the Spartans.

The series finale is set for noon on Sunday.