MURFREESBORO – The streak is over.

For the first time this season, the Chowan University Hawks lost a baseball game in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association; and they also lost back-to-back games in conference as Winston-Salem State completed a sweep Sunday at Hawkins Field by scores of 2-0 and 8-1.

It also marked the first time in their short CIAA history the Hawks had been swept in league play at home.

Despite some stellar pitching, the Chowan bats were held in check by the Rams hurlers as the Hawks only collected six base hits for the two games, three in each contest.

In the tight game one loss, junior Adam Capps got a safety, as did freshmen hitters Colby Wiggins and Blake Leebrick.

Junior lefty John DesChamps suffered the hard-luck loss as he surrendered six hits while striking out 11 in going the distance.

Wiggins again came through for Chowan in the second contest, getting a base hit and scoring the Hawks’ lone run. Ryan Moore and Justin Bagbey got the other hits for Chowan.

Junior right-hander Brett Garrett went five and two-thirds strong innings before the Rams picked up four earned runs on six hits. Still, he managed eight strikeouts.

“Winston-Salem State’s got a good team,” lamented seventh-year coach Aaron Carroll, “but we’re just so inconsistent that today was just a good idea how our season’s going to go if we don’t find some consistency.

“We’ve got to learn to play with some fire in our belly every day,” he added, “because we’re just not a very good team right now.

“To be CIAA champions you’ve got to be good or you’ve got to be bad,” he said, “and we can’t seem to make up our minds which we want to be because mediocrity will get you nowhere.”

Winston-Salem State broke a scoreless first game in the third inning when a two-out double scored their first run then another one came home on a successful double-steal to make it 2-0.

Chowan got a runner to third base just once in the contest, in the bottom of that same third inning, but could not capitalize.

Following that, the Hawks failed to even get a runner in scoring position and saw the game end on a double play despite a fine pitching performance from DesChamps.

Chowan struck first in game two.

Wiggins raced home from second base when the Rams bobbled the ball on a routine grounder then threw it away for an error.

Meanwhile, Garrett was cruising, giving up just three hits through the first five innings.

However, the Rams chased him in the sixth inning as they sent 10 men to the plate, lighting up Garrett for six runs on three hits.

Anthony O’Brien later came on for the final out in the sixth, but the Rams later got to the big right-hander in the seventh inning, touching him up for a pair of runs before freshman southpaw Josh Barmoy came on to finish, and with a pair of “K’s” upped his season total to a team-leading 26 strikeouts.

“Our pitching’s been great,” said Carroll. “We blew up in that one inning in the second game, but our pitching’s been keeping us in games.  What I don’t understand is how we can hit one day and can’t the next.

“It’s not a lack of talent or lack of ability,” he added, “This wasn’t the same team that went on the road (last week) and won two games from St. Aug’s; and it’s just going to be a struggle until we get that fire.”

Chowan returns to CIAA play with a double-header in Raleigh Saturday at Shaw before returning to Hawkins Field on Monday to host St. Andrew’s in a non-conference double-header.