GREENSBORO – Clutch hitting was crucial for the North Carolina A&T baseball team on Saturday. Senior Ryan Jantsch hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings, and junior Kyle Clary hit a walk-off RBI-single through the left side to lead the Aggies to a 14-13 win in 12 innings over Iona at War Memorial Stadium. N.C. A&T (3-7) will try to sweep the series noon Sunday at WMS.
The Aggies pounded out a season-high 20 hits, but did not get their first hit of extra innings until the 12th when Jantsch hit a single just in front of a charging Jon Budesa. Timothy Ravare tried to move Jantsch on a bunt sacrifice, but when Iona second baseman Sean Brean mishandle the throw from first baseman Matt Byrne, the Aggies had first and second with no one out. The Aggies took advantage of the extra out by having freshman Dawnoven Smith lay down a bunt that was executed flawlessly to move Jantsch and Ravare into scoring position.
Clary, who is on an eight-game hitting streak, fell behind in the count 1-2 after swinging and missing twice. But Clary got his timing down on Iona relief pitcher Vinny Martin (RHP) and drove his 1-2 pitch through the left side for the game-winning RBI.
“To see guys come up in situations like that, I mean you're talking about two strikes, in the bottom of the 12, it was good to see him jump into the ball like that,” said N.C. A&T head coach Ben Hall. “But it really came down to guys just competing their tails off. There was a huge amount of competiveness coming from out dugout.”
Iona took the lead in the eighth inning when Sean Breen hit a pinch-hit home run off LHP Matt Stanley. With two outs in the inning, Alex Beckett doubled off of Stanley and scored on an RBI single from Budesa to give the Gaels a 13-11. After the Aggies were retired in order in the eighth inning by right-hand reliever Alex Fishberg, Aggies RHP Kaeson Wilson entered the game in the ninth.
Wilson (1-2) pitched four innings and did not give up a run, while striking out three, walking one and surrendered only one hit to pick up the win. By keeping the Gaels (0-6) scoreless in the ninth inning, it allowed for Jantsch's heroics in the Aggies half of the ninth.
Sowell opened the ninth by earning a four-pitch walk from Martin. Sophomores Milton Rivera and Adan Ordonez both flew out to put Jantsch in the pressure situation of having to deliver if the Aggies were to win. Then again, what pressure? Jantsch took the first pitch he saw and lifted it over the right field fence for a 13-13. It was his second home run in as many days. Jantsch is 6-for-9 with six RBI thus far in the series.
“You show up at the yard and try to prepare every day like it is new, but you do get into a routine,” said Hall. “The last couple of days they've looked really good getting ready. Today it was nice to see because it didn't go the way we planned it. We took a big lead. They came back and answered and made some good swings themselves. But our guys kept hitting.”
The Aggies scored at least one run in each of the first four innings of the game and held an 8-2 lead after three thanks in part to a grand slam from freshman Forest Kimbrell in the third inning. It was the Aggies second grand slam in as many days as Jantsch hit one on Friday. But the Gaels scored four in the fourth and four in the sixth to take a 10-9 lead going into the seventh. Iona extended that lead to 11-9 before a two-run RBI double from Ordonez tied the game at 11 in the seventh.
Sophomore Myles Sowell also homered on Saturday for the Aggies, his second of the series.
