EAST GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T baseball team completed their first series sweep of the 2022 season, defeating Holy Cross, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon inside historic World War Memorial Stadium.
"You want to start getting some momentum," said A&T coach Ben Hall. "You want to feel like you're playing the kind of baseball that leaks into other days. When you're playing all the time, you want to start getting that momentum day-to-day, and I thought today was one of our better well-rounded days. We played three phases today. We got good pitching, and we played better defense, obviously, than we did yesterday, and that was a big focus in our talk prior to the game."
The Aggies (6-6) are 6-2 since their 0-4 start. For the third time in as many games, they got on the board in the first inning.
Graduate infielder Alec Seaton drew a one-out walk before stealing second. With two outs, sophomore designated hitter Camden Jackson sliced an RBI single over Crusader shortstop Connor Peek's glove to score Seaton and put A&T ahead 1-0.
A&T scored in each of the first three innings, providing run support for left-hand starter Peyton Winebarger (W, 2-0), who went 6.0 innings and gave up three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts. Sunday saw the first run Winebarger surrendered in three starts. He has a 1.50 ERA across 18.0 innings pitched with 24 strikeouts.
In the second inning, junior corner infielder Cort Maynard laced a two-out double down the left field line. Sophomore TJ Ash followed with a single to shallow left center field to cash in another run and extend the lead to 3-0.
Holy Cross (1-10) took their goose egg away on an RBI single from designated hitter Sean Scanlon, but the Aggies responded with two runs in the home half, highlighted by a line drive home run from sophomore outfielder Xavier Bussey. It was Bussey's second home run in as many days, both of them to the deepest part of the ballpark.
The Crusaders picked up two more runs in a two-hit visitor's fourth.
Right fielder Jake McElroy singled with runners on second and third to advance both runners and bring catcher Andrew Whinney home to make it 4-2. Then, Peek followed with a sacrifice fly out deep enough into right field to score second baseman Brendan Jones and close the gap to a run, 4-3.
The score remained that way until the home seventh. Seaton led the frame with a double down the right field line. Bussey singled through the right side and advanced to second on the throwback into the infield, putting both runners in scoring position. An RBI sacrifice fly from Jackson scored Seaton and advanced Bussey to third.
Junior infielder Anthony Hennings then flew out to right. Upon catching the ball, McElroy flung it toward home to throw out Bussey at the plate. The A&T sophomore narrowly slid under the tag, giving the Aggies two huge insurance runs in the frame to make it 6-3.
Redshirt freshman southpaw Stirling Thomas, who had relieved Winebarger in the seventh, pitched two hitless innings with a strikeout. Sophomore righty Jake Delisi followed by slamming the door on the Crusaders in the ninth to seal the series sweep.
Bussey led the Aggies with three hits offensively, while four A&T batters (Jackson, Hennings, Maynard, Ash) had two hits apiece. Jackson also tallied a team-high two RBI.
"Just trying to do my part to help the team win," said Bussey. "It's an all-around effort, you know, pitching, defense, hitting, so me going 3-for-4, even if I go 0-for-4, I know somebody's going to pick me up and do their job for me, so it's good to help contribute."
