ELON -The North Carolina A&T baseball team put up a fight against Elon, scoring five runs in the top of the ninth aided by a three-run RBI double by Marquis Riley, but the rally fell short at Latham Park, as the Aggies fell to Elon, 8-5 on Tuesday afternoon.

"We keep telling these guys that we're going to play hard until the last out is made, and we did," said head coach Joel Sanchez.  "You never know what will happen in baseball.  You get a little momentum going and one guy passes it on to the next guy, it carried us through a long inning, and it kind of did there.  We're definitely playing hard until the last out is made."

The Aggies traveled to Elon to take on the reigning SoCon Conference regular-season champions at Latham Park, as the field conditions at War Memorial Stadium were unfit for the originally scheduled home match-up. 

Redshirt junior Ruben Torrellas started for the Aggies, in his first appearance in an Aggie uniform since 2009.  He allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits with five strikeouts in five innings.  Righty Andrew Cook tossed two innings and allowed four runs on one hit and four walks.  Sophomore James Harris made his season debut in relief and kept the Phoenix scoreless in the eighth.

"Ruben did a pretty good job, pitching-wise.  He kept them off balance," Sanchez said.  "He mixed it up pretty good.  It was a pretty good job for him his first time out.  He hasn't pitched in a long time.  It was good for him and for us as a pitching staff."

A&T trailed 8-0 going into the ninth. They worked to rally in the ninth to avoid the shutout.  Dairio Little started off with a single, and advanced to second as Kelvin Freeman was hit by a pitch.  With two on and no out, Stefan Jordan stepped up to the plate and walked to load the bases. 

Mark Nales then reached on an error by Gomez at second base to bring home Little and make it an 8-1 ballgame.  With the bases still loaded and one out, Andre McKoy flew out to the right fielder in foul territory.  Elon then called on Darren Lauer to replace Grant Fisher on the hill to face Dylan Hipp.  

Hipp singled to short, which allowed Freeman to score.  Riley then doubled to right-center field to collect three RBI and make it an 8-5 game.  Luke Tendler grounded out to end the game.

Little extended his hitting streak to four games with his a single in the ninth inning.  He is now hitting .417, after going 1-for-3 with a walk at Elon.  Riley also extended his hitting streak to four, with his double.  He finished the game 1-for-4 with three RBI.

The Aggies tried to take advantage of the rustiness of Elon right-hander Jim Stokes, who missed last year with Tommy John surgery, in the first inning.  Stokes walked senior Carvell Copeland and Riley to start the game before Tendler hit into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out.  Stokes then walked Little to load the bases, which brought up Freeman.  Freeman hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and the A&T threat.

"In that first inning, when the guy struggled a little bit, we kind of bailed him out of the inning. We didn't score any runs and that kind of knocked the wind out of us a little bit," Sanchez said.  "That was an inning we could have put some runs up early on them and we didn't, and our guys kind of flattened out after that."

The Aggies struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities early in the game.  They got a runner in scoring position three times and stranded a total of six baserunners before the final inning. 

The Phoenix was the first to push a run across, making it a 1-0 game in the bottom of the third.  Second baseman Chris Bresnahan led off, and was hit by a pitch.  Torrellas then got the next two batters to strike out swinging.  Bresnahan stole second and took third on a wild pitch.  Left fielder Jake Luce reached on an error by Freeman, who bobbled the ball.  The error allowed Bresnahan to score.  Elon plated their second run of the game in the fourth frame on an RBI sacrifice fly to center by designated hitter Michael Elefante.

The Aggies got a man into scoring position in the top of the fourth on a two-out double by Freeman to right field.  It was the first hit in the game by the Aggies.  But Jordan struck out swinging on a full count to end the inning.  In the top of the fifth, designated hitter Lee Taylor singled to right to start the inning.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch by Spencer Medick while Nales was batting.  But Taylor was left stranded as Medick retired Nales and the two subsequent batters.

Elon pulled ahead, 4-0, in the bottom of the fifth.  With two on and two out, catcher Alex Swim hit a single to center field, which scored both runners.  Swim made a dash to second, but center fielder Hipp, who replaced Copeland in the bottom of the third, threw the ball to Riley to putout Swim at second to end the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Elon made it an 8-0 game. 

"They're a quality team.  You can't make mistakes on those guys because they will capitalize, they will hurt you," Sanchez said.  "They have enough bats throughout the lineup and they've got enough arms out of the bullpen to compete with anybody, I think.  That was a good team; it was a little test for us.  We kind of figured out where we're at."

The Aggies will be taking on the Temple Owls this weekend at War Memorial Stadium.  Friday's game will begin at 3 p.m., Saturday's game at 1 p.m., and the series finale will be on Sunday at 1 p.m.