EAST GREENSBORO – Sophomore outfielder Xavier Bussey has continually come through for the North Carolina A&T baseball team. None bigger than Friday night as he smacked a walk-off single to center field to lift the Aggies over the Canisius Golden Griffins, 8-7, in 13 innings inside historic World War Memorial Stadium.
The win moves A&T to 8-9 on the season, with all eight wins coming at #TheWar.
"Just trying not to do too much," began Bussey. "Coach talked to me before the at-bat and said, 'Don't try to get too big.' Hard line-drive, luckily it was a little deeper, so we were able to score (Cameran Brantley), and it was a good win for us."
Canisius (7-9) tied the game at 7 in the eighth inning on an RBI single from shortstop Kyle Kush. Four scoreless frames followed. But there were scoring opportunities.
With Brantley and Maynard on first and second in the Aggies ninth, Bussey singled through the left side as Brantley got waved around third. Griffins left fielder Mike Steffan scooped the ball and fired it to home plate, narrowly beating Brantley and eliminating him from the base paths.
Canisius sandwiched a single in-between two walks to load the bases with only one out in the 11th. Freshman Evan Demurias struck out the next batter in a huge spot and then drew a fly out to left field to get out of the jam.
The Aggies found themselves in the same situation in the home half with the bases loaded and one out.
Junior infielder Bret Mersman pinch hit for sophomore Camden Jackson, who ended his night 3-for-3. Mersman whacked a dribbler that hugged the left infield line and rolled toward third base. Assuming that it would roll foul, freshman catcher Canyon Brown did not move from third base.
The ball never rolled foul, however, and Griffins third baseman Gibson Krzeminski snatched it, tagged third base and threw home, thinking he had executed a double play to end the inning.
Since there was a force out at every bag, however, when he tagged third base, he got Brantley out, advancing from second to third. But he eliminated the force out at home on Brown. Mersman made it to first base in all the confusion, and Bussey snuck over to second.
When the saga ended, Brantley was the second out of the inning, and the bases remained loaded. Graduate infielder Alec Seaton laced a hard-hit ball right to Steffan in left field to end the threat.
With one out and a runner on first in the 12th, sophomore right-handed pitcher Isaiah Brewington (W, 1-0) came on in relief and put in 1.2 innings of scoreless and hitless work with three strikeouts to keep the Griffins at bay.
Then, in the bottom of the 13th, the Aggies ended the marathon. Brantley singled to right field before junior Cort Maynard moved Brantley to second on a sacrifice bunt leading to Bussey stepping into the box and sending the first pitch over Mike DeStefano's head off the center field wall to win the game.
"Baseball can be crazy, and that was a crazy game," said A&T coach Ben Hall. "The ups and downs emotionally, taking leads back, two-out hits, it's all a part of the game. I said it to our team coming into the week (Canisius) is a good ball club. They're going to come in and compete. They did, and that was a highly-competitive game.
More mistakes than you can probably shake a stick at, but the resounding theme is that we did not quit. We kept getting out of innings, giving ourselves chances to win, and it was just a matter of time before somebody came through."
Payton Consigil (1-2) took the loss for the Griffins. Bussey went 3-for-5 on the day and has reached base safely in all 17 games this season. His two RBI in the game give him a team-high 17 on the season.
Junior infielder Anthony Hennings sent his first home run of the season over the left field wall in the sixth inning, part of his 3-for-6 line and two RBI. Junior southpaw Daniel Carter got the start on the mound for the Aggies and battled, going six innings and allowing just two runs, one earned, on five hits with three strikeouts.
"We have to enjoy it tonight, sleep fast and get up tomorrow," said Hall. "I told the team after, they are going to want to come out and even the series at a really highly-competitive level, and we have to want to win the series way worse than they want to even the series, and that's why tomorrow is going to be just as competitive."
