SAVANNAH, Ga., -- North Carolina A&T held off a Savannah State rally in an 8-6 win over the Tigers at Tiger Field on Friday. The win keeps the Aggies winning trend intact. They are 13-2 in their last 15 games as they improved to 26-24 overall.
Marquis Riley led the way by going 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Senior James Howard added two RBIs.
Savannah State made a late rally against the Aggies. Jonathan Ross led off the eighth inning with a solo home run off of reliever Jonathan Smith to cut the Aggies lead to 8-4. An error and a single put Tigers on first and second for Kevin Herlihy, who singled to load the bases.
Two batters later Matthew Nowacki connected on a two-out, two-run RBI double to right field to move the Tigers to within two.
Reliever Garrett Braun would end any additional uproar from the Tigers in the ninth. He retired the Tigers in order for his third save of the season. Sophomore starter Esterlin Paulino improved to 8-2 on the season by striking out four over six innings.
After surrendering a run in the first inning, Paulino got plenty of help in the third and fourth innings. Three Savannah State errors led to three Aggie runs in the third. In the fourth, freshman Kelvin Freeman extended his hitting streak to 13 games by leading off with a double to right center.
A walk to Lester Rivenbark, freshman Mark Nales laid down a sacrifice bunt. The throw to first sailed wide, allowing Freeman to score for a 4-1 Aggies lead. Howard sent Rivenbark and Nales home with a two-run double.
George Hines provided an RBI double in the sixth, and Freeman had an RBI single in the seventh to close out the Aggies scoring. A&T will play the Tigers in a doubleheader game on Saturday.
