DURHAM (April 17, 2016) – North Carolina A&T started strong offensively on Sunday, tailed off toward the middle of the game and by the time the offense got going again, they had too big of a deficit to overcome in an 8-4 loss to North Carolina Central in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Durham Athletic Park.
Sophomore Milton Rivera, junior Kyle Clary and senior Ryan Jantsch had two hits apiece. Rivera has now reached base safely in 28 straight games. It was Rivera and Timothy Ravare who got the Aggies off to the hot start. Ravare opened the game with a leadoff single followed by connecting on his 14th double of the season to put runners at third and second with no outs. Adan Ordonez's RBI sacrifice fly scored Ravare for a 1-0 Aggies advantage as Rivera was thrown out trying to advance to third. Dawnoven Smith lined out to end the inning.
N.C. A&T pounded out two more hits in the second as Jantsch and Clary led off with singles. On Clary's single Jantsch went to third but Clary was caught in a rundown trying to advance to second on the throw. Jantsch eventually came home on a walk called against NCCU right-hand starter Cameron Scalzo.
NCCU scored two runs in the third and a run in the fourth to take the lead 3-2. The Aggies garnered only one hit between the third and seventh innings. The one hit was a solo home run by Clary to tie the game at 3. The Eagles recaptured the lead for good in the sixth thanks to an RBI triple from Trevor Theissen followed by an RBI single from James Dey to give NCCU a 5-3 lead. By the time the game reached the top of the ninth, the Eagles hand extended their lead to 8-3.
A resurgence in the Aggies offense occurred in the ninth as Rivera singled and Ordonez reached on an error that allowed Rivera to move to third and Ordonez to go to second. Rivera would score on a wild pitch to shrink NCCU's lead to 8-4. One batter later Jantsch singled to put runners on the corners, but Clary hit into a game-ending double play.
The loss sinks the Aggies to 9-30 overall and 3-12 in the MEAC as they lost their eighth straight in conference play. N.C. A&T right-hand starter Will Greene had a stellar start by striking out six and giving up three earned runs before being lifted in the sixth with one on and one out. But for the three-game series the Aggies surrendered 26 free passes when walks, hit batsman and errors are included while the Eagles surrendered five to give them the slight edge in the pitching battle.
Scalzo (4-4) went eight innings to get the win as NCCU improved to 20-19 overall and 8-7 in the MEAC. The Aggies will have nearly two weeks off between conference games. In the meantime the Aggies will host Presbyterian 6 p.m., Tuesday at War Memorial Stadium before traveling to Raleigh to face N.C. State Friday evening at 6.
The same two schools will meet again on Saturday, but this time at the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, NewBridge Bank Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The three-game series will conclude in Raleigh on Sunday at 1 p.m.
