BOONE, N.C. – The North Carolina A&T dropped a midweek road contest against the Appalachian State Mountaineers, 14-5, on Tuesday evening in non-conference baseball at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

It was a textbook bullpen day for both teams as sophomore southpaw Peyton Winebarger got the start for A&T (5-11). Winebarger did his job, going 1.0 inning, allowing no runs with two hits and one strikeout.

Freshman righty Justin O'Neal (0-1) relieved him in the second but received the loss after giving up five runs on six hits.

  "Big innings were the story again today," said head coach Ben Hall. "We did not do enough on the mound or defensively to keep us in the game." 

The Mountaineers (7-8) put together 17 hits in the game and led 8-1 after seven innings. The Aggies knocked seven of their 11 hits and plated four runs after the seventh. They could not overcome errors and pitching mistakes, however. The Aggies walked four Mountaineer batters in the game and committed two errors. 

"There was some life offensively, but it was really too little too late," said Hall. "Cameron Brantley continues to see the ball well doing some amazing things." 

Brantley paced A&T with his 3-for-5 day, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He sliced the first triple of the season for the team and also had an RBI and run scored. He has a team-high .390 batting average thus far. 

Senior outfielder Shane Faulk turned in his best performance on the season with two hits in three at-bats, including two doubles with two RBI and two runs scored.

Freshman Ben Peterson (1-0) notched the win for App State, tossing 2.0 innings surrendering no runs on no hits with a strikeout. Junior Phillip Cole led the Mountaineers offensively with his 2-for-5 day, including a team-high four RBI, a home run and a double.

The Aggies are slated to open up Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play this Friday, March 19, at 4 p.m. against archrival N.C. Central.