HANOVER, Md. – In a pair of polar opposite games, the Norfolk State baseball team earned its second straight doubleheader split with Coppin State on Sunday afternoon at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Spartans notched season highs in runs and hits in cruising past the Eagles 19-4 in the opener, but were on the losing end of a pitcher's duel in a 2-0 defeat in the nightcap.

The Spartans are now 10-19 overall, 7-9 in the MEAC. Coppin is 13-20, 9-7 in the MEAC.

The Spartans hit the ball early and often in game one, scoring at least one run in all seven innings and two or more in six frames while pounding out 18 hits. Dionte Brown (4-for-4, four RBIs), Steven Shaffer (3-for-6) and Robert Beatty (2-for-4) all notched career highs in hits. Shaffer, Jacob Council and Tommy Woods each had three RBIs and Tanner Brandon went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer.

Council singled in a run and Raphy Rodriguez scored the first of his three runs on a wild pitch in the top of the first. Brandon smacked his team-leading third homer of the year in the second to double NSU's lead. Woods knocked in two with a double in the third.

The Spartans kept scoring in the middle innings. Shaffer singled in two runs and Woods hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth before NSU blew the game open with a six-run fifth. Beatty singled in two runs while Council, Brown, Shaffer and Kam Walker all added RBIs in the inning to give NSU a 15-2 lead.

Brown added another run-scoring single in the sixth and drove in two more in the seventh to give the Spartans their most runs since scoring 20+ in back-to-back games against Maryland Eastern Shore on April 12, 2019.

Lefty Dalton Barham was the beneficiary of the Spartans' outburst. He struck out eight and allowed just five hits over six innings to improve to 2-5 on the season.

Game two was a low-scoring battle between NSU right hander Zac Capps and Eagle lefty Jordan Hamberg. Ultimately it was Hamberg who got the best of the matchup, striking out 13 batters while tossing a five-hit shutout.

CSU scored the game's first run on Marcos Castillo's RBI double in the bottom of the first. Brian Nicolas singled and scored on a wild pitch for the Eagles' insurance run in the fourth.

That was all CSU could muster against Spartan pitching in the nightcap. Capps pitched a season-high 5.1 innings and struck out a career-high nine batters while allowing just the two runs. Jackson Sanchez fanned both hitters he faced in relief of Capps in the sixth, giving NSU pitchers 11 punchouts in six innings.

Brandon went 2-for-3 in the nightcap to finish with four hits on the day. Shaffer and Brown also tallied four hits during the course of the doubleheader.

The Spartans are on the road again Tuesday for a mid-week game at Richmond. Game time is 2:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN+.