DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Juan Perez scored the go-ahead run, and D.J. Leonard hit a three-run line drive home run to lead Bethune-Cookman to a come-from-behind 7-3 win over North Carolina A&T Saturday afternoon in the MEAC Baseball Tournament at Jackie Robinson Park.
The Wildcats advanced to the championship game where they will go after their 10th title in 11 seasons. The Aggies will play an elimination game against Norfolk State at 6 p.m. The winner faces the Wildcats Sunday at 2 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman (34-20) reached the finals thanks to an inning in which it finally figured out a way to score against Aggies starter Nick Rogers. Rogers carried a 3-1 lead going into the Wildcats' half of the seventh. But he ran into trouble after Alejandro Sanchez had his single followed by a Justin Hoyte double. Rogers, who threw 122 pitches, then walked Perez to load the bases.
The Aggies turned to sophomore closer Garrett Braun in an attempt to halt the rally. But Braun's wild pitch moved the Wildcats to within one as Sanchez scored. Jeremy Davis tied the game with an RBI infield single. Ryan Durrence gave the Wildcats a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice RBI to right field.
With two outs and two runners on, the Aggies decided to intentionally walk MEAC Player of the Year Peter O'Brien. Leonard made them pay by hitting Braun's 0-1 pitch just over the left field wall for his 10th homer of the season.
Bethune-Cookman's Jordan Dailey (4-0) picked up the win in relief. Joey Munoz, Dailey and Chris Anselmo pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Bethune-Cookman. Sanchez was 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored.
Rogers (10-4) took the loss for A&T even though he struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings pitched. Kelvin Freeman led the Aggies with a 2-for-4 performance that included a two-run double.
Freeman's double broke open a scoreless game in the fifth as he doubled down the right field line to score sophomores Xavier Macklin and Marquis Riley. Freeman advanced to third on the double thanks to an error. It would lead to a 3-0 Aggies advantage as Alex Grubb scored Freeman on an RBI groundout.
