ROCK HILL, S.C. – The North Carolina A&T baseball team dropped a series-opening Friday night matchup against the Winthrop Eagles, 8-5, at The Winthrop Ballpark in Big South Conference league action.
The Eagles (15-32, 8-11) got on the board in their first inning when Joseph Szvetitz took the third pitch of his at-bat over the wall in left center field. They added two more runs in the third to make their lead 3-0 on back-to-back RBI knocks by Dillon Morton and Khyree Miller, with Miller hitting a triple.
Junior left-handed pitcher Daniel Carter (L, 2-6) got the start for the Aggies (13-35, 1-18) on Friday and went 6.1 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.
A&T got Carter some help in the fifth. Graduate infielder Alec Seaton led off the frame with a double to left field. A fly out to right field advanced him to third. A second consecutive fly out, this one from junior infielder Anthony Hennings, scored Seaton to make it 3-1.
Carter Sutton (W, 2-3) got the nod on the mound for the Eagles and provided a quality start going six innings and allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts.
The Aggies inched one run closer when freshman Sabin Roane scored on a pair of wild pitches in the seventh, but Winthrop responded with five runs of their own in the home half.
A double and single from Robby Taul and CJ Conrad to open the frame put runners on first and third. Szvetitz hit an RBI sacrifice fly to sophomore right fielder Camden Jackson that scored Taul.
But an errant throw back into the infield also allowed Conrad to move up 90 feet to second. Morton followed that with a single to right that scored Conrad. Then, back-to-back doubles from Miller and Joey Tepper scored another run to make it 6-2.
Two more RBI from Ethan Fewell and Ty Hooks made it an 8-2 game after seven.
Freshman catcher Canyon Brown pulled the Aggies within three on a three-run shot in the eighth, but they couldn't complete the comeback effort.
A&T tallied eight hits in the game, with junior outfielder Cameran Brantley having a team-high two, and Brown led the with three RBI. Miller and Tepper compiled three hits to lead Winthrop, while Szvetitz and Morton had two RBI.
