GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T got its offense cranking early and received an outstanding pitching performance from senior right-handed starter Coley Kilpatrick (W, 6-3) to defeat the Elon Phoenix 8-4 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) baseball at World War Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Kilpatrick posted nine strikeouts over 7.1 innings pitched to help the Aggies improve to 24-25 overall and 8-14 in the CAA. Elon's Kenny Mallory Jr. hit a two-run home run, but the Phoenix dropped to 19-29 overall and 8-14 in league play.
Kilpatrick's dominance of Elon's batters started early, with him posting two strikeouts in the first inning to put the Phoenix down in order. In the visitor's second, he struck out the first two batters he faced before getting Justin Szestowicki to fly out to right field to set Elon down in order again. In the home second, the Aggies provided their starter with some offense.
Senior Camden Jackson led off the home second by demolishing a 0-1 pitch from Elon right-handed starter Justin Mitrovich (L, 4-6) to right center for his 11th career home run and his fourth this season. After Jackson's blast, senior Devon Rodriguez doubled to right center with one out. Freshman Ellis Reid followed with an RBI single to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
A single by graduate first baseman Tatsunori Negishi kept the inning going before senior Tre Williams struck out to end the frame. Kilpatrick returned to the bump in the visitor's third to strike out the side, leading him to retire the first nine batters he faced. Junior catcher Canyon Brown opened A&T's third with a triple before senior Michael Logan landed a two-out RBI single down the left field line to put the Aggies ahead 3-0.
Elon finally got to Kilpatrick in the fourth as Mallory Jr. led off the frame with a single. Charlie Granatell produced the Phoenix's second hit with another single before Alex Duffey flew out to center for the inning's first out. It appeared the Aggies would escape with a double play when Ryan Sprock hit a grounder back to the pitcher.
But Kilpatrick's throw to second sailed into center fielder, allowing Mallory Jr. to score. A&T escaped the inning without further damage, leading the Aggies to their enormous fourth inning that started with a Reid walk. Negishi followed with a single, moving Reid to third. Williams brought Reid home with a single before Brown's RBI double scored Negishi for a 5-1 A&T lead.
Mitrovich got the first out of the inning by striking out senior TJ Ash, but Williams scored on a wild pitch that moved Brown to third, setting up Jackson's RBI groundout to score Brown for a 7-1 A&T advantage. After a Logan single, Elon replaced Mitrovich with RHP Christo Garrelts, who got Rodriguez to line out to shortstop.
The Aggies added another run on another RBI groundout in the sixth before Kilpatrick's night ended on Mallory Jr.'s two-run homer in the visitor's eighth. RHP Brock Duff replaced Kilpatrick. Duff opened the ninth on the mound for A&T, with the Aggies leading 8-3. Duff surrendered a one-out single to James Broderick and a double to Vince Fattore.
Pinch-hitter Shane Paradine delivered for the Phoenix with an RBI single to score Broderick, cutting A&T's lead to four. RHP Connor Blantz entered the game for the Aggies, however, and got Mallory Jr. to hit into a game-ending double play.
Brown led the Aggies by going 3-for-5, scoring twice, producing an RBI, and having two extra-base hits. Negishi, Jackson, Logan, and Rodriguez each had two hits. The two Piedmont schools play Game 2 from War Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 2 p.m.
