PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The North Carolina A&T baseball team nearly came away with a Power-5 series win on Saturday, but a doubleheader split instead favored the Pittsburgh Panthers inside Charles L. Cost Field in non-conference action. A&T took Game 1 9-4 before dropping Game 2 13-9 in the 10th inning.
"Proud of the way we played today," said A&T head coach Ben Hall. "We still made a lot of the same mistakes that have really hurt us at times this year, but there was a better response today. We were able to get some traffic on the bases and capitalize on their mistakes better. Obviously disappointed we couldn't finish that last game off to win the series, but there were some marked improvements this weekend."
The Aggie bats were working in game one, led by junior infielder Bret Mersman.
A&T trailed 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning. That changed quickly, however, when Mersman torched a two-run homer to right field that gave the Aggies their first lead of the weekend.
Pitt responded immediately in the home half, scoring three runs to reclaim a 4-2 advantage. The spurt was highlighted by an RBI double from Ron Washington, Jr.
In the sixth, the Aggies were able to tie the game on a throwing error from Jeffrey Wehler. Mersman smacked a grounder to him at third, but his throw was an errant one that sailed over Bryce Hulett's head at first base and sailed up the first base line.
That nearly allowed all three baserunners to come around and score with Anthony Hennings and Camden Jackson finding their way to the plate, but Chet Sikes was thrown out at home. Thanks to the throw, Mersman was able to advance to second and a batter later, freshman catcher Canyon Brown cashed him in on an RBI single to center field to give A&T a 5-4 lead.
Junior right-handed pitcher Trey Fields (W, 1-1) came on in relief in the fifth inning for A&T and turned in a career performance, keeping the Panthers at bay and allowing the Aggies to claim and extend their lead. Fields went 3.2 innings and allowed just one run on two hits with a career-high five strikeouts.
In the seventh, Cameran Brantley tattooed a two-run blast to extend the lead to 7-4. An inning later, Mersman cranked his second four-bagger of the game, also a two-run shot, making it 9-4.
Pittsburgh did get a run back in the ninth on an RBI double from Tatem Levins, but sophomore righty Xavier Meachem slammed the door with two straight strikeouts to end the game.
Game two proved to be an exciting one.
Pitt led 7-5 heading into the eighth inning. Then, Brown's two-run shot capped off a three-run frame to give A&T the lead, 8-7.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Panthers found some offense and an RBI double rom Hulett tied the game at nine. A fly out to TJ Ash in center field later, they were headed to extra innings.
The Aggies did not fold, however. Seaton and Ash struck out to start the frame, but two-out hitting is something A&T has done all year and that story rang true again. Roane and Brantley both singled to bring up Hennings, who in an 0-1 count sliced a single through the right side to score Brantley and once again give the Aggies a 9-8 lead.
Freshman left-hander Stirling Thomas (L, 1-1) came on to pitch the 10th.
CJ Funk led off with a double down the left field line. Thomas retired the next two batters and A&T was one out away from the program-defining series win.
Levins walked to put runners on first and second with Luke Lambert coming in to pinch hit. In just his 16th at-bat of the season, Lambert singled just past Hennings' glove at shortstop into center field to score the game. Three batters later, Jack Anderson got ahold of a pitch inside and took it out of the ballpark for a walk-off grand slam.
The A&T bats stayed hot heading into the second game.
Brantley led off the game with a single through the right side and then stole second. Two batters later, Jackson singled up the middle to bring around the first run of the game and put A&T up 1-0.
Sikes singled to follow and put runners on the corners before Mersman lined an RBI base hit to right field, bringing Jackson home. Brown stepped into the box and promptly launched his third career home run over the left field wall, lifting the Aggies' lead to 5-0.
Brown tallied his first career multi-home run game and went 2-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored.
Pitt got two back on a two-run shot from Washington, Jr. in the home half. They would tie the game in the bottom of the second on a two-RBI double from Wehler followed by Levins' RBI single.
A third straight scoring inning in the third allowed the Panthers to claim the lead on a sacrifice fly out from Brock Franks.
