PRINCESS
ANNE,
Md. – Sophomore pitcher Esterlin Paulino and senior pitcher Nick
Rogers
came close to perfection Saturday afternoon as the North Carolina
A&T
baseball team swept a doubleheader from conference foe Maryland
Eastern
Shore 8-0 and 10-0 at Hawks Stadium.
Paulino struck out 12, gave up five hits and walked just two batters
over eight innings to improve to 4-2 on the season. In the second
game,
Nick Rogers threw just 31 pitches over five innings and faced just one
batter over the minimum as the mercy rule was enacted thanks to the
Aggies 10-run advantage.
In the opening game, only three UMES runners reached second base. Only
one of those runners made it to third.
The Aggies offense began to help Paulino in the second when sophomore
Xavier Macklin tripled to left center field to set up an RBI sacrifice
fly by sophomore Marquis Riley. Riley came back in the fourth and hit a
two-run RBI single up the middle to give the Aggies a 3-0 advantage.
Riley had another RBI in the sixth, and he was a part of the Aggies
big
inning in the eighth. Freshman Dario Little earned an infield single
to
lead off the inning. After Little moved to second a groundout, Riley
scored him with a single to give A&T a 6-0 lead.
Freshman Alex Grubb's single led to senior Lester Rivenbark's two-run
RBI double that closed out the Aggies scoring. It was a big Game 1 for
Riley who went 3-for-3 with five RBIs.
Five Hawk errors helped the Aggies in Game 2. Rogers had another game
where he was dominant at the plate and on the mound. Rogers is
10-for-23
with 15 RBIs and 10 runs scored in the six games he has won on the
mound
this season.
In the second game on Saturday, he went 1-for-3 with a run scored and
two RBIs. A&T took control of the game in the third. James Howard
and
George Hines opened the inning with singles. Little loaded the bases
when he was hit by a pitch. Rogers' two-run RBI single gave the Aggies
a
2-0 advantage. A Hawks error allowed Little to score for a three-run
lead.
Macklin walked to put runners on first and second. A double steal led
to
a throwing error that allowed Rogers to score as Macklin went to
third.
Riley added another RBI to his day with a sacrifice fly to right for a
5-0 Aggies lead.
The Aggies improved to 14-21 on the season and 8-3 in the MEAC. The
two
teams will play again on Sunday at 1 p.m.
