GREENSBORO (April 6, 2016) – North Carolina A&T sophomore Adan Ordonez is always a nice presence to see at the plate when a big hit is needed. The reigning MEAC Rookie of the Year did not disappoint again on Wednesday as he hit a two-out, two-strike pitch through the left side of the infield for the game-winning RBI in the seventh inning to lead the Aggies to an 8-7 win over Elon in non-conference baseball action at War Memorial Stadium.
It was Ordonez's 24th RBI of the season which puts him two behind junior Kyle Clary for the team lead. Ordonez's hit helped the Aggies defeat the Phoenix for the second time in three tries after the Aggies had only won five times in the previous 51 meetings.
“Adan can really hit, and he is a guy we certainly rely on,” said N.C. A&T head coach Ben Hall. “We've worked on our two-strike approach and putting ourselves in a better position to hit, and that's the exact situation we found ourselves in tonight. And (Adan) hit a big one to put us up, but our guys expect him to that every day.”
Ordonez was 2-for-4 on the day with the one RBI and a run scored. Junior Timothy Ravare had the perfect night as he went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Sophomore Milton Rivera extended his hitting streak to 16 with a 2-for-5, two-RBI performance while Clary and freshman Dawnoven Smith had two hits and an RBI apiece. The Aggies (8-24) were back home on Wednesday after playing 13 straight games away from WMS.
“When you get a long road stretch like that it starts to become a grind – on the bus – inside somebody else's park,” said Hall. “It was good to get home and play a quality opponent in our area so that we could challenge ourselves to put a good performance out there. I think we got some momentum going into a big weekend.”
The Aggies have a three-game Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference series coming up against Florida A&M (18-10, 8-1 MEAC). The two teams play two games on Saturday at WMS starting at 1 before playing the finale 1 p.m., Sunday. While it was good to see the Aggies hitting the ball ahead of playing the MEAC southern division's No. 1 team, but it was important that they pitched their way out of tough spots as well.
In the sixth inning Elon had runners on second and third with no outs in a ballgame the Aggies led 7-6. Aggies left-hander Danny Garrett, however, was able to strike out Ryan Ogren before getting Nick Zammarelli to harmlessly pop out to second. The Aggies then decided to intentionally walk Kyle Jackson to face Danny Lynch who flew out to left field for the third out.
Elon did tie the game at 7 in the seventh on an RBI double by Liam O'Regan. The Aggies' quest to regain the lead in the seventh was aided by an error to open the frame as Jason King reached. Ravare followed with a single but was doubled off of first base when Rivera hit a line drive right at Elon first baseman Tyler McVicar. McVicar simply stepped on the bag two give the Phoenix a quick two outs as Ravare's lead off of first gave him no chance to get back. But fortunately the Aggies had one of their big RBI-men up in Ordonez who delivered the game-winning RBI and the 8-7 lead.
In the eighth, it was RHP Kaeson Wilson's turn to thwart a rally. With one out, Wilson walked Zammarelli only to see him advance to third on a Jackson single. But Lynch would hit a chopper just beyond the pitcher's mound. Wilson alertly threw the ball home to get a sliding Jackson out at the plate. Wilson struck out McVicar to end the inning.
Elon (10-19) did put the go-ahead run at the plate in the ninth inning with two outs, but Wilson retired the final batter he faced to end the ballgame. Wilson (2-6) picked up the win while Kellan Elsbury (0-1) was the losing pitcher.
“There were some times where we were a little inconsistent in the zone, but for the most part when we had to have it today, they made the pitches,” said Hall.
