DURHAM-It's always a battle when North Carolina A&T and
N.C. Central face off, and Saturday afternoon's baseball doubleheader was no
different. The Aggies and Eagles split
the twinbill. A&T took Game 1, 8-3. The Eagles won the second game 8-7 in
13 innings on a walk-off, sacrifice fly.
"We had a chance to win, and they had a chance to win
too. We battled out of some innings,"
said A&T head coach Joel Sanchez of the second game. "The game was a battle like we thought it was
going to be. "
The Aggies' success in the first game came from strong
performances in particular from senior starter Brent Moore and junior second
baseman Luke Tendler. Tendler showed
that if you give a talented left-handed hitter a short right porch, he'll give
you a multi-hit, multi-RBI game. He took
advantage of the 290-foot right field wall at Durham Athletic Park to hit a
pair of doubles and a home run, and collect six RBI in the leadoff spot for the
Aggies.
Moore allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits in a
complete-game victory. Moore retired
nine straight toward the end of the game to help shutdown the Eagles for his
fourth career complete game.
The Aggies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a home run
by Freeman-his third of the year and second in as many games. A sacrifice bunt by catcher Stefan Jordan
scored third baseman Mark Nales in the second inning to put A&T ahead
2-0.
In the sixth, Tendler slammed a three-run homer to right
field to open up the game at 5-1. The
Eagles responded and plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
With one out in the eighth, centerfielder Bo McMillan was
hit by a pitch. Back-to-back singles by
Jordan and shortstop Jeovanny Tolentino loaded the bases for Tendler. Tendler doubled down the right field line to
score all three runners and complete the Aggies scoring.
The Aggies built a lead in Game 2 as well. The Aggies had a 4-0 going into the fifth, but
the Eagles scored five runs in the bottom half to take the lead.
"We were coasting until that big inning that started off
with an error," Sanchez said, noting that the team had eight costly errors in
the second game. "It's tough to win
when you make eight errors."
In the top of the seventh inning, Freeman hit an RBI single
to tie the game at 6. The Eagles left a
runner stranded at third in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra
innings. The Aggies were scoreless in
the eighth, as the Eagles picked off Bo McMillan at third to end the A&T
rally. The two teams battled for the
next few innings.
A&T reliever Tyler Boone helped keep the Aggies within
striking distance, allowing just two unearned runs in 7.1 innings of work.
The Aggies took a 7-6 lead in the 12th inning,
taking three straight hits to put together the rally. Cameron Jergen's single scored sophomore
right fielder Brandon Wilkerson to give A&T the lead. But the Eagles took advantage of a two-out error
by Nales at third to tie the score at 7 in the home 12th.
The Aggies got Jordan in scoring position in the 13th,
but the Eagles retired Tolentino and Tendler to leave him stranded. With one out, A&T reliever Bradley
Jeffries overthrew the ball into right field, allowing Akeem Hood to reach
third. Jeffries then intentionally
walked the next two batters to load the bases.
In his first collegiate at-bat, N.C. Central freshman James Day hit a
sacrifice fly to bring home Hood to give the Eagles the walk-off win.
The Aggies will take on the Eagles in the series finale on
Sunday at 1 p.m.
