EAST GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T's six senior baseball players won their final home game at War Memorial Stadium on Sunday with a 3-1 win over the College of Charleston Cougars in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
Considering what the Aggies have been through over the past two weeks with injuries, heartbreaking losses and missed opportunities, winning Senior Day was sweeter than a cheesecake, with whip cream and a cherry on top. The win ended A&T's seven-game losing streak as the Aggies improved to 18-26 overall and 10-15 in CAA play. Charleston failed to sweep the Aggies and fell to 29-17 overall and 15-9 in conference play.
There were a few more things other than ending the losing streak that made Senior Day even sweeter. First, senior third baseman Cort Maynard drove in all three runs as he hit a two-run homer in the first and an RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth. In addition, sophomore right-hander Jaheim Brown (W, 2-5) had one of his best starts in 2023.
Brown threw 100 pitches and went 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run on four hits while walking four and striking out five. Brown, who also put three Cougars on base via a hit-by-pitch, pitched his way out of several difficult situations, leading to the Cougars leaving 10 men on base.
His replacement in the sixth inning, RHP Trent Simmons (S, 2), was the final part that made Sunday's Senior Day delight. Simmons had a rough outing on Saturday in Charleston's come-from-behind win in the late innings. In 0.2 innings pitched in the eighth, he gave up a three-run home run and a two-run homer.
But A&T head coach Ben Hall did not hesitate to put him back on the mound Sunday afternoon. Simmons proved to have a short memory as he pitched 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up no hits, no walks and striking out two by only throwing 33 pitches.
"Trent Simmons probably had his worst outing of the year yesterday," said Hall, referring to the Cougars wild 16-15 win on Saturday, where the Cougars rallied from a seven-run deficit in the eighth and ninth innings to win. "He gets hit all over the place, but then his number gets called today, so he had to go back in and put his best effort forward. He did, and I think the team did."
A&T wasted little time getting on the board against Charleston right-handed starter Connor Campbell (L, 3-2). Right fielder Shemar Dalton hit a leadoff single to center field. Two pitches later, Maynard, who returned from injury on Saturday, parked a baseball into the left-field trees for a two-run blast. Maynard has 19 career home runs, including 13 as an Aggie over the past two seasons.
Charleston got one of those runs back in the third even though the damage could have been worse for A&T. Cougars left fielder Tyler Sorrentino hit a one-out single to center before Brown hit Joseph Mershon with an 0-2 pitch. A double steal by Sorrentino and Mershon put them in scoring position for first baseman Cole Mathis. Brown walked Mathis on six pitches to load the bases.
Brown tossed a wild pitch that allowed Sorrentino to score before walking Trotter Harlan to reload the bases. But Brown recovered to strike out Luke Wood before Cam Dean grounded into a force play to end the threat.
The Aggies put one more run on the scoreboard as the Cougars opened the Aggies fifth with back-to-back errors, allowing TJ Ash and Sabin Roane to reach base. Dalton grounded out to move both runners into scoring position before Maynard's RBI sac fly scored Ash and gave A&T a 3-1 lead.
Brown hit consecutive batters with pitches in the sixth to put runners on first and second. After Brown secured the second out of the inning, Simmons entered the ballgame. The only Cougar to reach base after that point reached on an error.
"We had an absolute heartbreaker yesterday," said Hall. "Yesterday ripped our guts out. I thought Jaheim stepped up today and gave us the right response to a tough day yesterday. It was a really tough week. We were three or four plays away from winning three of our last four games. We're that close. But we're learning every day, and today gives us more ammo for what we need to do going forward. We obviously wanted to honor the seniors and thank them for the work they've put in."
In addition to Maynard, the Aggies also honored outfielder Cameran Brantley, RHP Luke Brown, LHP Daniel Carter, infielder Anthony Hennings, and catcher Hunter Radford. They also celebrated student manager Vince McGhee.
