GREENSBORO (April 19, 2016) – What looked like a routine fly out to left field to open North Carolina A&T's home baseball game against Presbyterian College developed into a crucial occurrence in Presbyterian's 10-6 win over the Aggies at War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
Blue Hose leadoff hitter Tyler Weyenberg hit an 0-1 pitch off N.C. A&T starter K.J. McAlister (RHP) to left field where a diving Ryan Jantsch made the catch for what appeared to be the first out in the inning. As Weyenberg jogged back and entered the dugout, the Blue Hose coaches requested and got a catcher's interference call on Aggies catcher Adan Ordonez from the umpires. Therefore, Weyenberg left the dugout and went to first base.
The issue was compounded by McAlister hitting Weston Jackson with a pitch. A.J. Priaulx added to the Aggies misfortunes by singling home Weyenberg for the first run of the game. After a walk to Jacob Midkiff, Peter Johnson really made the catcher's interference call sting by blasting a grand slam over the left field wall for a 5-0 Blue Hose lead. Mick Tinny closed out the six-run first by singling to right to score Nick Guimbarda.
Despite the difficulties of the first inning, the Aggies were able to keep the Blue Hose from having another big inning, allowing the Aggies room to get back into the game, which they did in the eighth. They trailed 9-2 going into the home half of the eighth inning when Ordonez led off with a single and Ryan Jantsch reached on a slow roller to first base. Ordonez moved to third on a fly ball out by Dawnoven Smith. One batter later, junior Kyle Clary singled through the right side for a two-out RBI that scored Ordonez.
Jantsch scored on an RBI single from pinch-hitter Joey Hill. Sophomore Myles Sowell then emphatically broke out of a 0-for-14 slump by torching a double to right field to score Hill and Clary to cut PC's lead to 9-6. PC added a run in the ninth off a Colton Chapman RBI double. Left-hander Hayden Deal walked Ordonez with one out in the ninth, but he put the final two Aggie batters away to end the ball game.
Jarrett Norman, Jantsch and Ordonez had two hits apiece. Clary and Sowell had two RBI apiece. Sophomore Milton Rivera failed to reach base on Tuesday. It snapped his impressive 28-game streak of reaching base in some form. The last time Rivera failed to reach base was on March 6 against Iona. The Aggies are 9-31 on the season and will face N.C. State on Friday in Raleigh at 6 p.m., before the two teams come to Greensboro on Saturday to play at NewBridge Bank Park in downtown Greensboro at 1 p.m.
