MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – North Carolina A&T has looked great all season long in weekend baseball series at home. But over the past weekend, the Aggies proved they can also win on weekend series on the road. More significantly, A&T won the weekend series on the road against one of the best teams in the Coastal Athletic Association.
A&T clinched the series win over the College of Charleston Cougars on Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point with an 18-4 victory. The Aggies improved to 17-6 overall and 2-1 in CAA play. Charleston dropped to 14-8 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Aggies had a season-high in runs scored and a season-high in hits with 19.
Nineteen hits are the most the Aggies have had since pounding out 19 against Canisius on March 19, 2022. Eighteen runs are the most since scoring 25 at Florida A&M on May 12, 2018.
A&T's offense started early and never relented. Tatsunori Negishi hit a first-inning RBI double to right field to score junior Shemar Dalton. Junior catcher Canyon Brown then blasted a two-run home run to right to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead. It was Brown's third homer of the season and the 15th of his career. A&T added two more runs in the second for right-handed starter Evan Hart.
Senior outfielder TJ Ash opened the frame with a single and stole second with one out. Senior infielder Devon Rodriguez brought him home on an RBI double to right off Charleston starter and LHP Connor Campbell (L, 3-1). The Aggies took a 6-0 lead as Ash led off the fourth with an infield single, leading the Cougars to replace Campbell with RHP Alex Lyon.
Lyons got junior infielder Enrique Wood to ground out and Rodriguez to fly out. Ash moved to second in the process and came home on an RBI single from Dalton. But the Cougars caused Hart some problems in the home fourth. With the bases loaded and two out, Hart walked Dylan Johnson to force in a run.
Graduate RHP Avery Cain (W, 1-1) replaced Hart and surrendered a two-run RBI single to Brent Gibbs, cutting A&T's lead to 6-3. But Cain escaped the inning by getting Dariyan Pendergrass to hit into a force out. The Aggies bullpen pitched spectacularly from there, and the five pitchers head coach Ben Hall featured on Sunday only gave up four hits and one earned run.
Offensively, the Aggies scored a combined 11 runs in the sixth and seventh innings to put the Cougars away. In the sixth, the Aggies utilized two Charleston errors and five hits to score six runs. Junior infielder Chet Sikes had a two-run single in the inning. Charleston committed two more errors in the seventh, and the Aggies added four more hits and five more runs. Senior outfielder Michael Logan and Sikes had doubles in the innings, and the seventh ended with the Aggies leading 17-3.
After the Cougars added a run in the home seventh, Rodriguez opened the visitor's eighth by reaching second on an error. Charleston committed six errors on Sunday. Rodriguez moved to second on a wild pitch before Negishi hit an RBI ground-rule double to score A&T's 18th and final run.
It was a huge day offensively for A&T. Six players had multiple-hit games, and four had three or more hits. Negishi went 5-for-6 with three doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored. Ash went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Dalton and Logan had three hits apiece, each driving in two runs. Dalton scored three times, and Logan scored twice.
Dalton extended his hitting streak to 12 games and has reached base safely in 19 straight contests. The Aggies will have a midweek game against the University of North Carolina on Tuesday at 6 p.m. A&T, 9-0 in weekend series at War Memorial Stadium this season, will host UNC Wilmington on March 30-April 1 in a three-game CAA series. The series starts at 6 p.m., Friday, with Friday's game marking the Second Annual Baseball Reunion Game. The Aggies will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship team.
