ASHEVILLE – UNC Asheville compiled nine runs, eight hits and walked five times over the first four innings of Sunday's Big South Conference baseball series finale at Greenwood Baseball Field against North Carolina A&T.
A&T never could recover as the UNCA Bulldogs took two out of three from the Aggies with a 13-6 win. The Aggies, who did secure their first road win and conference win of the season simultaneously during the series, dropped to 11-19 overall and 1-8 in conference play. The Bulldogs are 12-17 and 7-5.
Junior Anthony Hennings has now hit safely in six straight games and 10 of his last 11 by going 2-for-5 with two RBI.
Sophomore Camden Jackson went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and sophomore Chet Sikes ended the day 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Sikes has hit safely in all five games he has played since his return from injury on April 1.
Junior left-hander Peyton Winebarger (2-3) got off to a tough start. He lasted only two innings after surrendering seven runs.
After UNCA's nine-run outburst that put the Aggies behind 9-0 after five innings complete, A&T made a solid effort to get back into the game in the visitor's sixth.
It started with sophomore Xavier Bussey reaching on an infield single. Jackson followed with a single, and Sikes got A&T on the board with an RBI double down the right field line to score Bussey. Junior Cort Maynard then came through with runners in scoring position as his two-run single to right scored Jackson and Sikes to cut UNCA's lead to six, 9-3.
The good times kept rolling as graduate Alec Seaton singled to put runners on first and second. After an error on Bulldogs catcher PJ Hentz allowed Maynard to reach third, sophomore Alex Reyna hit into a force play that eliminated Seaton from the bases. Still, Maynard did score to get the Aggies to within five.
A&T kept the rally going as freshman Canyon Brown reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second. After UNCA left-handed starter Jacob Edwards got junior Cameran Brantley to strike out, reliever Blake Little replaced him.
Little got off to a shaky start, unleashing a wild pitch to move Reyna and Brown into scoring position for Hennings, who singled to center to score Reyna and Brown, cutting the Bulldogs lead to 9-6. Hennings was forced out to end the six-run sixth.
But the Bulldogs added an unearned run in the seventh on a throwing error before a solo home run in the eighth by Grayson Preslar gave UNCA an 11-6 lead. Cam Johnson completed the scoring with his two-run double to left in the eighth.
Edwards (4-3) got the win. Little retired 10 straight Aggies after giving up the double to Hennings to earn his first save of the season.
On Tuesday, A&T steps outside of Big South play when they travel to Chapel Hill to face the University of North Carolina at 6 p.m. The Aggies then host a three-game Big South series against Campbell University at World War Memorial Stadium starting on Thursday, April 14 at 6 p.m.
