EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T dropped the final game of its three-game non-conference baseball series to Marist, 7-1 Sunday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium. Marist (6-11) took two out of three from the Aggies who dropped to 10-9 on the season.

Senior Dawnoven Smith led the team going 2-for-4, while third baseman A.J. Hunt recorded the only RBI for the Aggies.  On the mound, Michael Johnson (3-1) picked up the loss pitching the first seven innings giving up five runs and striking out three.

Marist broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second inning after an RBI single for a 1-0 lead and increased the lead to 3-0 in the third inning after a two-run home run to right field. Neither team could push across a run from the fourth through the seventh innings. 

The Aggies had an opportunity in the fifth inning to score.  After two consecutive outs, senior Jason King and junior Dustin Baber recorded back-to-back singles, but a groundout to the second base ended the inning.

Marist added two runs in the eighth inning to take a 5-0 lead after a two-run double that skipped over the third base bag. The Aggies got on the board in the bottom half of the inning after a solo home run by Hunt over the right field fence to cut the lead to 5-1.

Marist scored two runs in the ninth inning after an RBI sacrifice bunt and an error to allow runners score.

The Aggies started the bottom of the ninth with a hit-by-pitch and a single to left center.  But a fly out to right field and a double-play to the shortstop ended the game.

Marist was led by Tyler Kapuscinski, Frankie Gregoire and Robbie Armitage each recorded two hits, while Gregoire recorded four RBIs.

The Aggies are back in action against cross-town rival UNC Greensboro Tuesday at 6 p.m. at First National Bank Field in Downtown Greensboro.