LYNCHBURG, Va. – The North Carolina A&T baseball team dropped their first midweek and road contest of the 2022 campaign to the No. 21 Liberty Flames, 12-2, on Wednesday afternoon at Liberty Baseball Stadium. 

The Aggies (0-4) picked up their two runs in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-RBI single from redshirt junior Cameran Brantley. 

Sophomore Chet Sikes led off the frame with a single to center field. Graduate Alec Seaton followed with a strikeout before an A&T base running mistake proved costly as Sikes got picked off at first base for the second out. 

Sophomore TJ Ash got his first start of the season and was hit by a pitch before freshman catcher Canyon Brown doubled to left field to put both runners in scoring position. That's when Brantley came through with some timely hitting and scored Ash and Brown. 

However, the Flames (3-1) had already scored seven runs by that point. Four hits coupled with a pair of wild pitches from A&T starter Evan Demurias (L, 0-1) allowed Liberty to jump ahead 3-0 in the third.

In the fourth, Liberty continued to add to their lead when Derek Orndorff led off with a solo home run, and Jake Lazzaro smacked a double. A&T looked like they might get out of the inning without too much damage done when they drew a pair of groundball outs. 

But two walks and a fielding error later, Liberty loaded the bases. That's when Foster singled up the middle to score two more runs to make it 7-0 at the end of the fourth.  

The Flames responded after the Aggies got their two runs in the top of the fifth. They scored three runs in their half of the inning to make it 10-2. Liberty finished compiling their 12 runs in the seventh inning following Orndorff's second homer of the game, this one a two-run shot. 

Brantley (2-of-4, 2 RBI, BB) and Brown (2-of-3, R, BB) paced A&T offensively with multi-hit games. 

Foster and Orndorff had a team-high three RBI for the Flames, and Orndorff finished 3-for-4 with two home runs and three runs scored.