TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - In the regular-season finale, the North Carolina
A&T baseball team secured the No. 3 seed and a .500 record in the MEAC by
getting its first series sweep of the season.
The Aggies defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers by a 9-7 final on
Saturday afternoon at Moore-Kittles Field.
"It was a good win," said A&T head coach Joel Sanchez. "We
took care of business and we're ready for the conference tournament. It was a good finish to the regular
season. We wanted to come out here and win
them all and we did. That was the goal."
The Aggies (18-34, 12-12) will face off against Norfolk
State, the No. 2 Northern Division team on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., in the
first round of the MEAC Championship Tournament, hosted by Norfolk State. The Aggies will be looking for their fourth
Championship title in program history.
"So now we've got to
get ready for the conference tournament," said Sanchez. "I keep telling these
guys that we've got enough talent, bottom line.
We're good enough to go out and win this thing."
But in order to dethrone reigning six-time champion
Bethune-Cookman, the Aggies will have to continue to play smart, effective
baseball.
"We've got to play baseball.
We've got to go there and make the plays, have to have good, timely
hitting and we've got to throw strikes.
We've had spurts of it--we just need to show up at the right time,"
Sanchez said.
The Aggies played solid baseball in the series finale on
Saturday, and were able to score the game's first seven runs.
After the Aggies got an early run in the second, Marquis Riley
started the onslaught in the third by singling to start the inning. He reached third as Freeman reached on an
error by FAMU second baseman John Scott. Tendler then hit the ball toward first. FAMU first baseman Dylan West tried to put
Riley out at home, but overthrew catcher Ryan Sheplak, allowing Riley to score.
Freeman moved to third and Tendler took second on the error. Bo McMillan then hit an RBI single to put the
Aggies up by 3-0. Eric Chiz's sac fly to
score Tendler gave A&T a four-run advantage.
With the bases loaded on three hits in the fifth inning, right
fielder Dairio Little brought home a run after being hit by a pitch to make it
a 5-0 game. With the bases still loaded
and one out, Riley hit a two-run RBI single through the right side to give
A&T a seven-run lead.
The Rattlers started to stage a comeback in their sixth
against Aggies reliever Shane Carter. Shortstop Tyler Lawson hit a double to
left field to score two runs and make it a 7-3 game with no out. Jared Walker continued the threat with an RBI
single through the left side to cut the A&T lead to three runs. Sanchez then called on Jamal Clark to relieve
Carter. Later in the inning, Walker
scored on a wild pitch while Scott was batting to make it a 7-5 game. A walk to Reginald Grant put two on with two
out for designated hitter Aaron Smith, who represented the go-ahead run. Smith popped out to third baseman Mark Nales
in foul territory to end the rally.
The Rattlers rally didn't stop the Aggies from hitting,
however. Nales hit an RBI triple in the eighth to get back a run. Freeman followed Nales' hit with an RBI single
up the middle to put the Aggies ahead by four runs.
FAMU answered back, as an RBI triple by Lee in the bottom of
the eighth made it a 9-6 contest. With
one on and no out, Clark got Thomas to strike out swinging, but Thomas took
first on the passed ball third strike. Daniel
Lee scored from third to cut the Aggies lead to two. Sanchez then replaced Clark with Joe Mackey
on the hill. Mackey promptly retired the
last three batters to get out of the inning and hold the Rattlers at bay.
The Rattlers made one last stand in the bottom of the
ninth. Pinch hitter Shawn Bailey doubled
to left field to start things for FAMU in the bottom of the ninth. But Mackey retired the next three batters in
order to pick up his fourth save of the year and secure the win for the Aggies
and for starter Brent Moore (4-6). Moore got out bases loaded jams in the first
and second innings. He allowed just five hits in five shutout innings, walked
one and struck out five.
"He made some good pitches when he needed to," Sanchez said.
"It was a good finish for him. He's been
one of our most consistent guys, and he was good again today."
Riley led the team with three hits. McMillan, Chiz,
Wilkerson and Radford each had two hits in the contest. Riley and Chiz led the
team with two RBI apiece.
The Aggies will leave Greensboro on Tuesday to drive to
Norfolk, Va., for the 2012 MEAC tournament.
