GREENSBORO-The North Carolina A&T baseball team split their twin bill against the LaSalle Explorers on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.  The Aggies won the first game 9-4 and fell to the Explorers 5-3 in Game 2.   

The Aggies (5-6) and LaSalle (4-4) will play the rubber match at 1 p.m., on Sunday at War Memorial Stadium.  The series finale will feature left-hand pitcher Brent Moore (1-1, 3.21) for the Aggies on the mound, and right-hander Shane Petrellis (0-0, 0.00) for the Explorers.

Senior third baseman Michael Radford had a great start to the series, finishing the day 2-for-3 with a double, a RBI and three runs scored in Game 1 and 1-for-5 with a double and two-run RBI in Game 2.  He also made some strong throws to make putouts to help shutdown the LaSalle offense.

"Radford's been a spark for us, making plays defensively and offensively," said head coach Joel Sanchez. "We've been looking for a guy to be our leadoff hitter, and he's doing a better job of that.  He's a scrappy little player."

Junior first baseman Kelvin Freeman extended his hitting streak to a team-best nine games in Game 1 with a 2-for-5 performance, before going hitless in Game 2 to see it end.   The Aggies had five players post multi-hit games in Game 1, and designated hitter Lee Taylor had a pair of hits in Game 2 to lead A&T.

The A&T starting pitchers turned in another strong performance on the day as well.  Senior LHP Esterlin Paulino picked up his first win of the season, tossing seven quality innings in Game 1.  He allowed three runs on six hits with four strikeouts.  Righty Andrew Cook pitched in relief in that contest, allowing a solo home run in 2.0 innings.   Sophomore RHP Tyler Boone allowed three runs in 5.0 innings as the A&T starter in Game 2.  Jamal Clark picked up the loss for the Aggies in the second contest, as he allowed two runs with four walks and three hits in 4.0 innings. 

"Game one was another good outing by both pitchers," Sanchez said.  "They scored a couple of runs off Paulino early.  It took him a little bit to settle down and get in his groove, but then he got in a groove and gave us seven quality innings when it looked like he might not be out there that long when it first started." 

The Explorers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and added two more runs in the fourth inning in Game 1.  But the Aggies added two in the fifth to climb to take a 3-2 lead. After freshman Colby Keene doubled to start the inning, Radford brought him home with an RBI single.  Radford advanced a pair of bases on two wild pitches.  When he took third, the LaSalle catcher Zack Feierstein, threw the ball to try to get him out at third.  Feierstein's throw went into the outfield, and Radford scored on the error.

The Aggies took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth.  An RBI double by Freeman and another RBI double by catcher Stefan Jordan gave the Aggies the lead.  The Aggies scored three more runs in the seventh inning, powered by a two-run RBI double by right fielder Dairio Little and an RBI triple by shortstop Luke Tendler. 

In the eighth inning, left fielder Andre McKoy hit a double to score center fielder Bo McMillan.  Little hit a sacrifice fly to put the Aggies up 9-3.  LaSalle shortstop Joe Bennie hit a solo home run to right in the top of the ninth before Cook retired the order.

"We swung the bat. [LaSalle starter Eric Van Wyke] was competitive, but we were patient with him and we were able to swing the bat and get runners into scoring position," Sanchez said.

The Aggies kept things close in the second game of the doubleheader as well.

"That was a good team we played today.  That was a good second game," Sanchez said.

The Explorers tagged A&T starter Boone for 10 hits, but he only gave up three runs, making the Explorers strand eight batters.   He also escaped out of a bases-loaded situation in the third inning by getting third baseman Dan Klem to fly out. 

"Boone made good pitches in key situations, which kept us in the ballgame.  He got out of some jams," Sanchez said, noting that Boone was pitching from behind most of the night which is a tough position for pitchers.