GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T produced enough hits and runs to say they had a pretty good offensive night.
The problem the Aggies ran into again Tuesday night was just being outhit and outslugged. Gardner-Webb recorded 17 hits and were aided by six walks and three hit batters by Aggies pitching to earn a 17-9 win over A&T at War Memorial Stadium.
The Aggies (3-22) had 14 hits of their own and were walked six times by Bulldogs pitching. The Aggies even had an early lead on the Bulldogs (17-12) thanks to a two-out rally in the third that started with an Adan Ordonez double to left-center field. After a walk to Luke Jensen, Erik Montero hit an RBI single to right field to score Ordonez. Senior Dylan Hipp followed by just missing a home run to right center. Instead the ball bounced off the wall and scored two more Aggie runs as A&T took a 4-1 lead.
A&T's lead did not last for long. Gardner-Webb answered with a six-run fourth that included a two-run RBI by Ryan Hodge and a two-run home run from designated hitter J.D. Huggins. But A&T had an answer to the Gardner-Webb surge.
A walk to Timothy Ravare and a double by Myles Sowell got things started for A&T. Brandon Wilkerson moved the Aggies to within two runs by grounding out to second. It was one of three RBI he posted on Tuesday. Milton Rivera drove in the other Aggies run of the inning with a single to center, cutting the Bulldogs lead to 7-6.
Gardner-Webb started putting some distance between the two teams in the sixth, however, as the Bulldogs scored four in the inning to take an 11-6 lead. The inning was highlighted by a two-run homer off the bat of Henry Rudino. A&T stayed within striking distance as Ordonez opened the Aggies sixth with a triple before scoring on a Wilkerson single through the right side. The Aggies opened the seventh trailing 11-7.
They were hoping to go into the ninth with that deficit, but Hodge's two-run RBI triple capped off a five-run inning that gave GWU a 16-7 lead.
Wilkerson was 2-for-5 along with Rivera and Montero. Montero also drove in two runs. Ravare and Sowell were both from 2-for-4 with Ravare scoring twice.
Ryan Hodge led the Bulldogs with a 4-for-6 day that included two singles, a double, a triple and four RBI. The Aggies are in action again on Wednesday when they face Appalachian State at 6 p.m., at War Memorial Stadium.
