GREENSBORO – Sophomore shortstop Milton Rivera is such a high energy hitter, the North Carolina A&T baseball coaching staff decided to move him up in the lineup as the No. 2 hitter to relax him. Rivera embraced his new batting order by calmly hammering three home runs on Saturday in the Aggies 14-8 loss to Navy at War Memorial Stadium. Rivera also had a game-high five RBI.
The Midshipmen were able to overcome Rivera's career game by posting six runs in the eighth inning. The Midshipmen (2-0) have taken the first two games in the three-game series. N.C. A&T (0-2) will try to avoid the sweep on Sunday when the two teams meet at WMS at 1 p.m.
Rivera's second home run of the day came on a first-pitch fastball from Noah Song that came down after it cleared the left-field fence to tie the game at 5 in the seventh inning.
“Milton's been doing it ever since he has been here,” said N.C. A&T head coach Ben Hall. “We've been playing with him in different places in the lineup. We put him at the top of the lineup today and talked to him about being a 2-hole hitter and controlling the bat. And then he goes out and hits three home runs. Milton only knows one speed. I think it's a byproduct of how hard he works and prepares himself.”
But the dreaded eighth inning crushed the Aggies momentum. Five walks aided the Midshipmen. With runners at second and third, Connor Deneen hit a groundball to second that Timothy Ravare mishandled, allowing the Midshipmen to retake the lead as Stephen Born scored.
Ben McGrath followed with an RBI single to give Navy a 7-5 lead. After Matthew Wilcox sacrificed McGrath and Deneen to second and third, Paglialonga's infield single loaded the bases. Right-hand reliever B Smith then walked Logan Knowles to force in Navy's next run. Freshman RHP Leon Hunter replaced Smith and threw a wild pitch to score to score McGrath. Travis Blue capped the Navy eighth-inning scoring with a two-run RBI double to give Navy an 11-5 advantage.
“You can't let a team put up those kind of crooked numbers on the scoreboard that late in the game,” said Hall. “We're giving up way too many walks right now. That leads to us having to defend too many base runner situations.”
Navy increased its lead in the ninth by scoring three more runs to take a 14-5 lead. But after producing just two hits on Friday, the Aggies showed minus the big Navy eighth inning, their offense had the firepower to win Saturday. Freshman Jason King hit a one-out single up the middle. James Rorie walked with two outs, setting up Rivera's third blast of the game.
Rivera had help on Saturday as Adan Ordonez had a 2-for-4 day with a run scored and an RBI. The Aggies had leads of 1-0 and 4-2 and held the lead until the sixth inning. “I was excited with the way our guys came out today,” said Hall. “We made some adjustments in (batting practice) and it helped us get off to a great start.”
Right-hander Tevelle Clark got his first career start for N.C. A&T and went five innings and gave up two earned runs. Navy starter, RHP George Coughlin, lasted only three innings. Song (1-0) picked up the win and Smith (0-1) was the losing pitcher.
Blue led the Midshipmen by going 3-for-6 with four RBI.
