GREENSBORO-Junior Dairio Little is one of the student-athletes the North Carolina A&T baseball team would like to have walk up to the plate representing the winning run with two out and two on in the bottom of the 11^th inning.

But while the North Carolina A&T cleanup hitter made contact, he and the Aggies were unable to complete the come-from-behind win.  Little grounded out to LaSalle second baseman Marshall Garcia to give the Explorers an 8-6 win in 11 innings Sunday at War Memorial Stadium.

 "We fought.  We fought until the end and until the last out. It was a back-and-forth battle with these guys again.  They are a scrappy bunch.  We had a competitive game, that's for sure," said Aggies head coach Joel Sanchez about his team, who lost two of three to the Explorers.

Freshman right-hander Joe Mackey put in a gutsy effort in relief for the Aggies (5-7) but picked up the loss.  He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits with a season-high five strikeouts in a season-high 4.2 innings of relief. 

"He came in and he gave up the two runs but he kept us in the game," Sanchez said, noting that he kept the Explorers scoreless for 3.2 innings.  A&T starter southpaw Brent Moore allowed six runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.

 Three Aggies had multi-hit games, including third baseman Michael Radford, center fielder Andre McKoy and second baseman Marquis Riley.  Radford extended his hitting streak to six games with a 2-for-5 performance that included a double and a pair of runs.  Catcher Stefan Jordan had three RBI in the game with a double.  The Aggies scored in each of the first five innings. 

"It's still a work in progress, but we're doing a better job with our (offensive) approach.  We manufactured some runs there early.  That was good.  We played fundamental baseball," Sanchez said.

In the top of the 11^th, Adam Kammler started things with a single.  He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jon Gyles.  Bennie hit an RBI single to right field to make it a 7-6 game.  George Smith Jr. then singled to put two on.  Norton struck out looking, but both runners advanced during his at-bat on a wild pitch.  Dan Klem then came up to bat, and reached on a fielding error by Tendler, which allowed Bennie to score.

"We had a couple of bad breaks there with them getting those two runs.  They made those high choppers that are hard to field" Sanchez said.  "[Mackey] makes a decent pitch, the shortstop has a tough time, has to run a long way for those.  We just caught a bad break there in that inning and they scored a couple of runs.  It was that type of game.  Whoever can capitalize on little things is going to win the game.  They were able to do that."

Being down 8-6, the Aggies worked to start a rally.  With two out, McKoy singled through the left side.  Riley stepped up to the plate and hit it to Garcia at second.  Garcia chose to try to get McKoy out at second, but McKoy was called safe and Riley took first base on the fielder's choice.  With the tying runs on base, Little came up to bat.  He grounded out to Garcia.

"Their guy made some good pitches at the end there as well," Sanchez said of LaSalle closer Pat Christensen, who got the win for the Explorers.

The Aggies will take Monday off before welcoming the Campbell Camels to town on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. game.  The Aggies will then open up conference play with a series against archrival N.C. Central starting on Saturday, March 10.

The Aggies scored first on Sunday, as Radford scored on an RBI double by Riley to pull ahead 1-0.  The Explorers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second on a two-run home run by shortstop Joe Bennie. 

But A&T responded by tying the game at 2 in the bottom of the second, as shortstop Luke Tendler scored on a Jordan groundout. 

The Aggies reclaimed the lead on a single by McKoy, which brought home Radford, who doubled to lead off the inning. A&T extended its lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.  The Aggies added another pair of runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead 6-2. 

Moore cruised until the seventh inning when the Explorers were able to tag him for three hits and four runs to tie the game.  Third baseman Klem singled with one out, and came around to score to make it a 6-3 game on a double by Garcia.  A single by left fielder Marc Schoch brought home Garcia to bring LaSalle within two runs.  Moore walked catcher Ryan Welling to put two on with one out. 

Sanchez then called on Mackey to replace Moore.  Pinch hitter Kammler singled to right, which allowed Schoch to score to make it 6-5.  Welling and Kammler each advanced a base on the throw from right.  Welling pulled up lame on the base path en route to third, and was replaced as a base runner by pitcher Eric Van Wyk.  First baseman Gyles singled to left to score Van Wyk, to tie the game at 6.  Mackey issued a walk and then retired the last two batters to get out of the jam.  All of the runs were attributed to Moore.

The two teams remained scoreless over the next three innings.  The Aggies didn't get a hit until the 11^th inning, and Mackey held the Explorers to two hits until the 11^th frame.