GREENSBORO — For the second straight game in North Carolina A&T's scheduled three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) baseball series at War Memorial Stadium against UNC Wilmington, the Aggies got off to a nice start but could not sustain it as the Seahawks won Game 2 of the series 7-2 on Saturday.
A&T will try to avoid the sweep on Easter Sunday after the Seahawks won Game 1, 9-3 on Friday. The Aggies lost their third straight following Saturday's outcome, dropping to 17-9 overall and 2-3 in CAA play. UNCW remains undefeated in the CAA at 5-0. The Seahawks are 16-11 overall.
The day started festive for the North Carolina A&T baseball program. The Aggies honored the 1974 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) baseball champions on its 50th anniversary before the game as a part of the Second Annual Baseball Reunion Game.
The current A&T Aggie baseball players appeared to use the good vibes from the pregame festivities to start impressively against a solid Seahawks team. Starter and right-hander Diego Barrett (L, 1-2) retired UNCW in order in the first. He then masterfully pitched his way out of a tough spot in the second inning, stranding two Seahawks on the base paths.
After giving up a leadoff single in the third to shortstop Kevin Jones, Barrett retired the next three batters he faced to keep the game scoreless going into the home third. That is where A&T started to do some offensive damage.
UNCW starter and RHP Jacob Shafer opened the frame by hitting senior infielder Devon Rodriguez with a 2-2 pitch. Junior outfielder Shemar Dalton followed by flying out to center field, but senior outfielder Michael Logan moved Rodriguez to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Logan's sacrifice put two outs on the board, leaving graduate first baseman Tatsunori Negishi responsible for keeping the inning alive. He did so. Negishi ripped a shot to right center and hustled his way to second for a double. In the process, he scored Rodriguez to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. Junior Canyon Brown followed with an RBI single to center to give the Aggies an early two-run lead.
The Seahawks responded with a two-out rally as Kevin Novobilsky and Jones earned two-out RBI singles to tie the game at 2-2. UNCW eventually loaded the bases, but Barrett avoided further harm by getting Trevor Marsh to fly out to left field. After Shafer shook off a leadoff double from senior outfielder TJ Ash in the home fourth, Seahawks slugger Tanner Thach returned in the visitor's fifth and hit a solo home run to right on a 3-1 pitch delivered by Barrett, giving UNCW a 3-2 advantage.
LHP Luke Craig (W, 2-0) replaced Shafer to open the A&T fifth, and the Aggies' bats cooled from there. Craig pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, striking out six Aggies and surrendering only one hit. UNCW added two runs in the eighth off a two-run RBI double from Novobilsky. An RBI triple from Thach and an RBI sacrifice fly from Jayson Arendt placed two more runs on the board for UNCW in the ninth.
UNCW RHP Connor Kane did give up a one-out walk to Rodriguez in the ninth. But Dalton hit a razor-sharp line drive to first that Thach snagged out of the air and then stepped on the first-base bag to double off Rodriguez to end the game.
Dalton led off the game with a double, extending his streak of reaching base safely to 22 games. Ash went 2-for-4. Thach went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Sunday's series finale starts at 1 p.m.
