The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy baseball team opened the season splitting two games last weekend.

The Saints had a doubleheader Saturday when they took on Isle of Wight Academy and Highland School. In the first matchup with IWA, NSA took a 10-5 win. NSA started off the game with a 2-0 lead through three innings before IWA brought in five runs in the fourth inning to tie the game at five. The Saints also brought home three runs that inning.

From the fifth inning on, it was all Saints. They scored five more runs, including three in the seventh, to get their first win of the season. Jase Howell pitched three innings for the Saints and got the win. Hyatt Hurst had three hits, two RBIs and two runs. Zac Morris and Will Rice added two runs with Nic Psimas adding two hits, a run and two RBIs.

“The guys came out focused,” Coach Joey Seal said. “It was hard to know what to expect since we weren’t able to do all we wanted preparation-wise. We had an inning get away from us, but the guys stayed poised. We were able to answer back, and I’m proud of those things for hanging in there and pulling out the win.”

In the second matchup of the day, NSA fell to Highland 3-1. The game was tied at zero for a little more than half of the game, with the first runs being scored in the fifth inning. Highland scored two runs to NSA’s one. After a shutout from both teams in the sixth inning, a late run from Highland in the seventh inning gave it the win. Howell scored the only run for the Saints.

Throughout the day, Seal felt good about the pitching the Saints got. They had three freshmen touch the mound. Out of 14 innings in two games, NSA believes they played well in 12 of them.

“I was so impressed with our young guys,” Seal said. “To go out there and as a freshman or eighth-grader against some good teams and play well was good for them. Our vets played well, too. I saw a lot of things from our guys that we’ll only be able to build on.”

NSA will host Windsor High School Wednesday as it looks to get to 2-1.