SAVANNAH, Ga. (April 3, 2016) – North Carolina A&T fell short of winning their first baseball Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference series of the season as Savannah State got a strong performance from right-hander Austin Robinson in a 6-1 win over the Aggies Sunday afternoon at Tiger Field.
Savannah State, by taking two out of three from the Aggies (7-23, 3-6 MEAC), improved to 9-20 overall and 4-5 in the MEAC.
Robinson (2-0) threw a complete-game three-hitter where he did not give up an earned run while striking out six. His counterpart, RHP Kaeson Wilson, went 4.1 innings and was hurt by three unearned runs. Wilson did strikeout four before RHP B Smith, RHP K.J. McAlister and LHP Danny Garrett combined not to give up a run the rest of the way.
Sophomore Milton Rivera had one of the Aggies three hits, a double to left-center field in the eighth inning, to extend his hitting streak to 14. It ties junior Kyle Clary for the longest hitting streak of the season by an Aggie.
But Savannah State was able to claim the lead early. Charles Sikes' two-run RBI double gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Alex Wright closed out the three-run first with an RBI single to right field to score Sikes. The Aggies put two runners on in the second inning against Robinson as junior Timothy Ravare reached on a single followed by Clary reaching on an error. Ravare was able to score on the mistake to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1.
The Tigers increased their lead in the fourth as Jakeel Daniels stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Daniels hit a groundball to shortstop where Sikes was forced out at second, but Bruce Cole was able to score to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Brian Miller then put down a bunt that was good enough to allow him to reach and Jonathan Moore to score for a 5-1 advantage.
N.C. A&T will try to obtain their first series win in conference play next weekend when they host Florida A&M at War Memorial Stadium starting Friday at 4 p.m. The series will conclude Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. In the meantime the Aggies will have two midweek games by playing at East Tennessee State on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and at WMS on Wednesday against Elon (6 p.m.).
