GREENSBORO - Kelvin Freeman went on a rampage at the plate late last season to earn MEAC Rookie of the Year honors. The North Carolina A&T baseball team hopes he can produce a replay of that in 2011 as the season gets closer to the MEAC Tournament.
Freeman hit a big two-out, two-run RBI single in the seventh inning to give the Aggies the lead for good in a 9-6 win over Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium. The two teams will play an 11 a.m., doubleheader on Sunday from WMS.
The Aggies big seventh inning didn't start out with a spark. Andre McKoy flew out to left field for second out of the inning. But with the Aggies down 6-5, freshman Luke Tendler singled to center field which moved Carvell Copeland to third after he reached on an error. Marquis Riley walked to load the bases, and Dairio Little walked to tie the game at 6.
Little's walk set up Freeman's heroics and ended the night for Maryland Eastern Shore starter Jacob Foreman. Freeman lofted a 2-2 pitch into center field that bounced in front of Tre-von Johnson to score Tendler and Riley for an 8-6 Aggies lead. Brandon Parker came on in relief and unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Little to score for the four-run inning.
Garrett Braun came on in the eighth to pick up the save. Esterlin Paulino (3-4) picked up the win for the Aggies who improved to 9-23 overall and 3-6 in the MEAC. Freeman's two RBIs on the day matched Xavier Macklin's two RBIs off of his 10th home run of the season. N.C. A&T switched up its lineup a bit on Saturday as Macklin was in the seventh spot and Luke Tendler moved from the sixth spot to bat third.
It may have made a difference as the Aggies compiled 11 hits led by Andre McKoy's 3-for-5 night with two runs scored.
