ETTRICK, VA  – The Virginia State University baseball team (10-14) will travel down to Elizabeth City, North Carolina to face the Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs (13-25) in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 9. The Trojans will attempt to pull it together after taking their biggest loss of the season against Barton 15-3. The Bulldogs scored 15 runs on 18 hits with two errors while Virginia State scores three runs on seven hits with two errors.
 
 
After going a perfect 8-8 against Christendom, Dawsyn Hock now leads the team with a ridiculous .481 batting average. Hock also leads the team in slugging percentage (.673) and on-base slugging percentage (1.198). He has had four games this season when he has batted 1.000 with more than one at-bat in the contest. Opposing teams plan to play the fence against Ricky Jones (.402/BA), as he was able to put a jolt into the baseball twice in game two of the CAU series. Jones leads the squad in home runs (4), hits (33), RBI (21) as well as total bases (52), triples (1), and at-bats (82). Jones has collected nine multi-hit games this season. The super freshman, Tahruan Hammond (.397/BA), currently leads the team in runs (26), walks (24), doubles (8), on-base percentage (.550) and triples (1). His on-base percentage ranks him 10th in the country. Hammond also has a lively arm on the mound as the reliever has accounted for 14 strikeouts while giving up just eight hits. Hammond stepped in for one inning a game ago against Barton and struck out the side. The Trojans currently have four players, who have at least 40 at-bats that maintain a batting average of .300 or better while two players average .400 or better. The team hits a whopping .291 from the plate with an on-base percentage of .411. The pitching rotation has been keeping the base paths vacant this season as they allowed a respectable 5.29 earned runs per contest and have struck out 150 batters while walking just 94. Nicholas Woolfolk and Grayson "Cole" Spain are proven to be a two-headed monster on the mound as Woolfolk leads the team with a four wins while maintaining an impressive 3.18 ERA in 45.1 innings while Spain leads with 60 strikeouts which, ranks him within the top-50 in the country. Against CAU, Woolfolk earned a career-high nine strikeouts as Spain earned a season-high 14 strikeouts against Davis & Elkins. Woolfolk is ranked within the top-25 in the country in innings pitched while also tying for third in complete games with three. Spain has his name all over the country's pitching statistics as he ties for third as well with three compete games. He also ranks within the top-25 in the country in innings pitched with 44.1 and ranks 17th in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.38. Rashard Miller has proven to be a primetime reliever as he has stepped in 21.2 inning and struck out 14 batters while boasting the best ERA on the team with a 2.91. Avante Banks leads the infield with 71 put outs so far this season while also maintaining a .326 batting average, which ranks him fourth on the team. Ricky Jones is a vacuum in the outfield as well with 56 put outs on the season with no errors. Tahraun Hammond has assisted on the most outs on the team this season with 44. 
 
 
Weekend Schedule
Saturday, April 9
Virginia State at Mid-Atlantic Christian
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. *Elizabeth City, North Carolina *MACU Ballpark
Projected Starter for Game One: Nicholas Woolfolk (3.18 ERA, 37 SO)
Projected Starter for Game Two: Grayson "Cole" Spain (6.09 ERA, 60 SO)
 
 
 
About Mid-Atlantic Christian
The Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs are 13-25 on the season after being swept in a three-game series to Carolina University. Offensively, the Mustangs hit an impressive .273 from the plate with a .352 on-base percentage. MACU has driven 110 runs home with 14 home runs on the season. While the squad hits at a decent clip, they have struck out 178 times while only drawing 83 walks. Caleb Whitley leads the team with a crushing .444 batting average. He also leads his squad in hits, runs, at-bats, RBI, doubles, stolen bases and home runs. Whitley has earned two or more hits in 10 games this season. The Mustangs hit for power as they have four players with two or more home runs this season. The MACU pitching rotation gives away 7.49 earned runs per contest while giving up 224 runs with 134 strikeouts and just 117 walks this season. Teams have hit 24 homers against the rotation. Dalon Arrington, a freshman, is the ace as he leads the team in innings pitched (42.0) and strikeouts (28). Arrington is 3-2 on the year and maintains a 8.14 ERA with only 10 walks.
 
 
Series History
The Trojans are 2-1 against the Mustangs as they took both games of the doubleheader on March 19, 2022, 5-2 and 8-6. The Mustangs went on to take the last game of the three-game series 7-5. Dawsyn Hock was extremely hot during the MACU series going 6-of-8 (.750/BA) from the plate while Nicholas Woolfolk had the best outing of the starters as he earned the win while pitching six innings, earned four strikeouts and only gave away a pair of earned runs and four hits.
 
 
Next Five Matchups

• Apr. 9-10 at Mid-Atlantic Christian
• Apr. 14 vs. Newport News Apprentice School
• Apr. 16-17 at Salem
• Apr. 19 at Univ. of Mount Olive
• Apr. 23-24 vs. Bluefield State