GREENSBORO-It's been a trying two weeks for the North
Carolina A&T baseball team. The
Aggies have dropped their last nine games-and have gotten the tying or winning
run to the plate in the late innings in the last seven.
The Aggies again were that
close to securing the win in each end of a doubleheader against the first
place Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday, getting the
tying run to the plate in the final inning in both games. The Aggies battled back from a 10-run deficit
to nearly comeback in Game 1 and erased a shutout bid in Game 2. But in the
end, the Wildcats won both games of the doubleheader, 15-13 and 3-1.
"We made a late charge, we just didn't close it out. That is the best team in the conference and
they're a good ball club," said A&T head coach Joel Sanchez, who said that
the losses were frustrating because the Aggies know they can defeat the
Wildcats.
The Aggies (13-30, 7-11) still have two crucial MEAC series left
this season before heading into the MEAC Championship Tournament-giving A&T
ample time to improve their conference standings and get the best seed possible
for the tournament.
"We've just got to continue to go out there and
compete. We've got to keep it positive
and keep our heads up because we still have a lot of baseball left. We've got to stay focused, we've got to stay
positive and come out and keep playing," Sanchez said.
The Wildcats (27-18,
16-4) took advantage of some early struggles of A&T starter Tyler Boone, to
take a 6-0 lead in the first inning. The
B-CU starter, Gabriel Hernandez, kept the Aggies to just one hit in the first
three frames - a double by sophomore Luke Tendler.
The Wildcats added two more runs in the fifth and one in the
sixth to take a 9-0 lead. The Aggies
were able to push across a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run
home run by Tendler. Tendler finished
Game 1 with a 4-for-4, three-RBI, three-runs scored performance and was just a
triple shy of the cycle. It was his
second four-hit performance of the season. He hit safely in both contests to extend his
hitting streak to 16 games.
"Game one was a tough start for us. Obviously we started down. When you're down by that many runs, it's hard
to do anything offensively. Tyler
settled down after the first inning, and he still gave us a few good innings,"
Sanchez said. Boone allowed nine runs (six earned) on nine hits in 6.0 innings.
"Eventually, Tyler gave us a chance to get it going and we did."
B-CU added a trio of runs in the seventh inning, to take a
12-2 lead. On the brink of ending the
game early on the conference's 10-run rule, the Aggie bats hammered away at the
Wildcat bullpen, halving the score.
Shortstop Michael Radford singled to left, scoring two runs
to make it a 12-4 game. Radford finished
the game 3-for-5 with four RBI. Center fielder
Carvell Copeland reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners
with one out for senior Marquis Riley.
Riley grounded out to the B-CU first baseman, but a run scored on the
play to cut the Wildcat lead to seven runs.
RBI singles by Tendler and first baseman Kelvin Freeman brought the
Aggies to within five at 12-7.
But the Wildcats responded by scoring three runs of their
own in the eighth.
"It seemed like every time we scored runs, we couldn't put
up a zero the next inning," said Sanchez.
Fortunately, neither could B-CU. With runners on first and second, Radford
doubled to left field, bringing home both runs.
He took third on the throw from left field that went to home plate. Then the B-CU catcher, Carlos Delgado, threw
the ball to third to try to get out Radford.
His throw went wild, and Radford came home on the error to make it a
15-10 contest. The Aggies collected
three more runs on a wild pitch, an RBI single by Dairio Little and an RBI
groundout by Wilkerson to chop the lead to 15-13. In the ninth inning, A&T reliever Shane
Carter held the Wildcats scoreless.
