BROOKLINE, Mass. – Junior Anthony Hennings had a huge RBI single in the eighth, and the Aggies held off a fierce comeback effort to pull out a significant 5-3 win over the Northeastern Huskies Saturday afternoon at Friedman Diamond. Sophomore Xavier Meachem recorded the save, his fifth.
The Aggies, who were all but the unanimous choice to finish last in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) this season, earned a road win over a Northeastern team who received a first-place vote in the CAA preseason poll and were selected to finish fourth out of 11 teams. As a result, the Aggies improved to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in the CAA. However, the Huskies won the series after sweeping Friday's doubleheader, dropping to 12-4 overall and 3-3 in league play after Sunday's loss.
"It's really tough to win at their place, so to come away with one was big," said A&T head coach Ben Hall. "I'm proud of the team for bouncing back after a tough day yesterday and finding a way to win. The guys really played hard and competed at a high level."
A&T jumped out to an early lead and maintained that lead with solid pitching. The Aggies grabbed a 1-0 in the first off an RBI single from Camden Jackson. Sophomore Canyon Brown and junior Tre Williams had RBI singles in the third to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
A&T held that lead through four innings played. They received an excellent pitching start from right-handed sophomore Jaheim Brown during that time. In four innings pitched, Brown posted a career-high eight strikeouts, giving up one run and two walks.
Brown pitched himself out of some jams throughout his start as the Huskies stranded seven runners over the first four innings. After Brown surrendered back-to-back singles in the fifth with no outs, the Aggies turned to RHP Jake Delisi.
With runners on first and third, Delisi got Alex Lane to hit a groundball to third. Cort Maynard threw out Jimmy Sullivan going to third, but Danny Crossen did score to post Northeastern's first run of the game.
Mike Sirota kept the inning going with a single to put Huskies at first and second, but Delisi got Cam Maldonado to fly out and struck out Spencer Smith to end the Huskies' fifth. The Aggies still led 3-1 going into their seventh when Canyon Brown opened the frame with a single before being eliminated on the base paths by a fielder's choice that allowed Cameran Brantley to reach.
Williams singled to move Brantley to third before Williams moved into scoring position on a balk. It set up Hennings heroics as his two-run single gave the Aggies a 5-1 lead. Hennings went 2-for-4 with those two RBI.
"We had a bunch of big hits in the game, but Anthony's knock in the eighth was the difference," said Hall. "We were really fighting to extend the lead, so it was big to get a timely hit."
After Hennings's hit, Northeastern placed Jack Beauchesne on the mound, but A&T kept going as TJ Ash singled, and Sabin Roane walked to load the bases. But Shemar Dalton hit a groundball to third, leading Crossen to force out Hennings going home. A Maynard flyout to right to end the A&T threat.
A&T could have used those runs because the Huskies started to make a charge. After the Huskies loaded the bases in the eighth with one out, the Aggies replaced Delisi with RHP Justin Poris. Poris got Jack Thorbahn to fly out to center, but Sirota scored on the RBI sacrifice fly to cut A&T's lead to 5-2. Harrison Feinberg ended the Northeastern rally with a groundout to third.
A&T then turned to Meachem to close out the game. But he gave up a walk and a double to put runners on second and third with one out, putting the winning run at the plate. Sirota reached on a throwing error that allowed Crossen to score to cut A&T's lead to 5-3. Meachem then walked Maldonado to load the bases.
But Smith hit into a game-ending double play to clinch the win. Delisi (1-1) secured the win after pitching 3.1 innings. Aiven Cabral dropped to 1-2 on the year after being credited with the loss. Williams, Brantley and Brown had two hits apiece. Sullivan and Lane had three hits apiece for the Huskies.
