ROCK HILL, S.C. – Freshman catcher Canyon Brown homers for the second straight day, but North Carolina A&T fell just short as the Winthrop Eagles defeated the Aggies 11-10 in a Big South Conference baseball bout inside The Winthrop Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.
"Appreciate the effort our guys put out there today," said A&T head coach Ben Hall. "We got some really good fight back all game in the box, but just had too many instances where we threw noncompetitive pitches over the middle of the plate.
They scored in six of the eight innings we had to defend, and it's tough to win like that. I really want to see our team fight tomorrow."
Heading into the Aggies ninth, the Aggies (13-36, 1-19) trailed 11-6. But junior Cameran Brantley drew a one-out walk. Sophomore Camden Jackson then drew a two-out walk, his third walk of the game, before Brown sliced an RBI single to right field that scored Brantley and put runners on the corners with junior Bret Mersman coming to the plate.
Mersman worked a 3-1 count and, in a green-light situation, tattooed the next pitch way over the wall in right center to bring the Aggies to within one, 11-10.
The Eagles (16-32, 9-11) made a pitching change and brought in Willie Lumpkin (SV, 3). Lumpkin got sophomore Chet Sikes to fly out to left field to end A&T's rally.
Mersman and Brown finished 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored to lead the Aggies offensively.
Like yesterday, the Eagles got things going in their first when Khyree Miller sent a three-run home run over the left field wall.
The Aggies responded with two runs in the very next half-inning.
Mersman and Sikes combined for back-to-back one-out singles before advancing into scoring position following a balk.
Freshman Sabin Roane came through in a big spot with an RBI single to left field that scored Mersman and got A&T on the board. Sophomore TJ Ash continued the effort with a sacrifice bunt to advance Roane to second as Sikes scored to cut the deficit to one, 3-2.
Dillon Morton launched a solo shot to make it 4-2 before Brown's two-run bomb in the fifth tied the game.
Junior left-handed pitcher Peyton Winebarger started on the mound for the Aggies but gave up four runs on four hits in four innings pitched before freshman Jackson Hull relieved him in the fifth.
Winthrop plated four runs thanks to three hits, including a two-run double from Jack Spyke. A walk and two hit batsmen aided the Eagles' offensive outburst.
Aaron White (W, 1-2) entered in the fourth inning and pitched 2.2 innings, giving up four runs on two hits with seven strikeouts, but got plenty of offensive support en route to his first win of the year.
Miller and Spyke tallied two hits and three RBI to lead Winthrop offensively. Seven of their nine bats recorded at least one hit in the game.
