PRINCESS ANNE
– North Carolina A&T took advantage of the opportunities presented to it
on Sunday.
The Aggies used six Maryland Eastern Shore errors and three Xavier
Macklin hits to down the Hawks 5-2 at Hawks Stadium. A&T took all three
games in the series to improve to 9-3 in the MEAC. The Aggies are 15-21
overall. Macklin added two RBIs to his totals and senior Nick Rogers
chipped in with two hits.
The Hawks were shutout twice on Saturday. But they were able to get on
the board first on Sunday. Luis Mena's RBI single to left field in the
second inning scored Bryan Chaikowsky to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage.
UMES' defense would struggle from there. Macklin opened the fourth by
reaching on an error. Riley furthered the Hawks' problems with a single
that advanced Macklin to third. The fielding error that allowed freshman
Alex Grubb to reach helped Macklin score to tie the game.
Senior Lester Rivenbark's sacrifice fly to center scored Riley to give
A&T the lead. Aggies starter Brent Moore was able to pitch out of some
tough situations until his offense put the game away for him. In the
fifth, the Hawks left a runner stranded at third against Moore.
In the sixth, Moore had a runner on first and second with one out and
left the inning without surrendering a run.
He got some help in the seventh. The Hawks allowed freshman Dario Little
to reach on an error with two outs. Rogers kept the two-out rally going
with a single. Macklin made it all worth it with a triple to right field
to score Little and Rogers. A throwing error on the play allowed Macklin
to score for a 5-1 Aggies lead.
UMES moved to within three with a run in the eighth. The Aggies turned
to Garrett Braun to close the game after Moore walked the lead-off
batter in the ninth. Braun got Elliott Alston to fly out, and Phil
Vaughn to hit into a double play to end the game.
Moore (3-3) earned the win, and holds a 3-1 record against MEAC foes
with a 4.85 ERA. The Aggies return to action on Tuesday to play on the
road against High Point University at 7 p.m.