NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- It certainly doesn't feel like baseball weather, but that's not stopping the college season from getting underway.
Friday found Norfolk State hitting the field, gearing up for its February 13 opener against Towson.
"Always great to be back on the field," Spartans' head coach M.L. Morgan said. "We've been stuck inside a lot lately because of the frigid temperatures, so always a good day to be on the field."
Morgan is getting set to open his first season as NSU's head coach. He's been a scout for the Rays since 2021 and previously served as an assistant coach at Randolph-Macon and his alma mater, VCU. Now he's in green and gold looking to revive the program.
"It's been going pretty well," he noted Friday. "When you have a change, a transition, it takes some feeling out from both the players' side and coaches' side, but the guys have been very welcoming. They've bought in to what we're trying to do, so it's been pretty seamless."
"It's like a new standard," added senior outfielder Justin Journette. "He gets hard on us when we need it the most so just a good coach."
Morgan assumes a program coming off a 4-38 season and hoping for a bounce-back campaign. The Spartans were picked to finish tenth in the NEC preseason poll, but the roster isn't paying attention to that. These players enter 2026 with something to prove.
"There's a big chip on our shoulders," Journette pointed out. "We lost a lot throughout my three years here and there's a big difference now. I feel like we're just ready to flip that narrative."
"We want to compete for the NEC championship," added Morgan. "We don't want to set anything lower than that. That's always going to be our goal. Of course, there will be some growing pains that come along with it, new coach coming in, some transition there, but the goal is to win an NEC championship."
Norfolk State opens its slate against Towson next Friday at 3 p.m. The Spartans will play their first 11 games on their home field.
