EAST GREENSBORO – Wild. Unimaginable. Maddening.
North Carolina A&T's Saturday Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) baseball contest between the North Carolina A&T Aggies and the College of Charleston Cougars at War Memorial Stadium were all those things and a few more adjectives that are not family-friendly. The pity in the classic at #TheWar on Saturday is that A&T lost 16-15 to drop its seventh straight game, falling to 17-26 overall and 9-15 in CAA play.
Meanwhile, Charleston moved into a tied for third in the CAA standings at 29-16 overall and 15-8 in league play. The Cougars had an interesting journey to get to that place in the standings. In what could only be written for a fiction movie, the Cougars scored the first eight runs of the game over the first two innings before the Aggies scored 15 unanswered to take a 15-8 lead into the eighth inning. However, the Cougars scored eight unanswered runs over the final two innings to win.
Cougars pinch-hitter JT Marr provided the winning blow with a two-out, two-run RBI single to right field in the ninth to give Charleston a one-run lead going into the Aggies half of the ninth. Charleston right-handed reliever William Privette (S, 7) retired the Aggies in order in the ninth to secure the win.
Saturday didn't look like it would require a save. Instead, it looked like a repeat of Friday's game, where the Cougars defeated the Aggies 16-5. Charleston picked up where it left off by scoring eight runs on nine hits in their first two at-bats. The Cougars were aided by three A&T errors over the first two frames. But the Aggies made up the deficit in one inning – the fourth.
The fun started with a single from third baseman Cort Maynard, who returned from injury on Saturday. Designated hitter Camden Jackson singled to put Aggies at first and third before first baseman Tre Williams put the Aggies on the board with an RBI single through the right side. Catcher Canyon Brown followed with an RBI double down the right field line to score Jackson to cut Charleston's lead to 8-2.
Left fielder Cameran Brantley, who has had an outstanding week at the plate, cut further into the Cougars lead with a single to right field, scoring Williams and Brown. Second baseman Devon Rodriguez collected the Aggies' sixth straight hit when he singled to right to put runners at first and third. Center fielder TJ Ash made the comeback official with a three-run moonshot to right to cut the Cougars lead to 8-7.
Two batters later, Maynard recorded his second hit of the inning by lifting a solo home run over the left-field fence to tie the game at 8-8. The fourth inning finally ended on the 11th batter as Jackson grounded out to first. A&T put up two more runs in the fifth on a Brown two-run homer to give the Aggies their first lead of the game at 10-8.
A&T appeared to put the game away in the seventh as Williams led off the frame with a double, followed by a Brown groundout that moved him to third. Brantley doubled to center to give the Aggies an 11-8 lead. Charleston reliever Jake Brink hit Rodriguez with an 0-2 pitch before Brantley and Rodriguez advanced on a Brink wild pitch. Brink walked the next two batters he faced, Sabin Roane and Shemar Dalton, to force in a run, making it a 12-8 Aggies lead.
RHP Emmett Brice replaced Brink and unleashed a wild pitch to score Rodriguez. Maynard added two more runs with a two-run RBI double to give the Aggies a commanding 15-8 lead going into the eighth inning. But a three-run home run from Trotter Harlan and a two-run shot from Khyree Miller helped the Cougars post six runs in the eighth inning to bring the Cougars to within one run before Marr's big pinch-hit single in the ninth.
Charleston put five pitchers on the mound before Aidan Hunter (W, 3-2) pitched a scoreless eighth to keep the Cougars within striking distance in the ninth. A&T went with four pitchers before RHP Jake Delisi (L, 2-3) gave up the winning run in the ninth. Williams led the Aggies by going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Maynard, Brown, Brantley, and Ash drove in three runs apiece.
Brantley is 5-for-12 for the week with two home runs, five RBI and four runs scored. Harlan drove in six runs, and Miller drove in four for the Cougars. The Aggies will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday.
