GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T had an interesting home baseball finale on Sunday. It ended with A&T and Elon combining for 29 runs, 30 hits and eight errors. When the twists and turns finally ended after a three-hour, 11-minute affair, Elon came away with the three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series win with a 17-12 win over A&T on Sunday at War Memorial Stadium.
After winning the first game of the series on Friday, the Aggies lost the final two games to drop to 24-27 overall and 8-16 in CAA play. Elon kept its hopes alive for a berth in the CAA tournament by improving to 21-29 overall and 10-14 in league play.
Before the game, the Aggies celebrated 15 seniors on its annual Senior Day. The Aggies sent well wishes out to five relief pitchers, four infielders, four outfielders, one starter, one designated hitter, and one student manager and their loved ones before spotting the Phoenix 10 runs over the first 2 ½ innings of the game.
A&T senior right-handed starter Isaiah Brewington (L, 0-2) lasted only a third of an inning after giving up four runs (two earned) before fellow senior RHP Jake Delisi replaced him. The Aggies joined the offensive fight in the home third as one of the seniors honored before the game, Tre Williams, lined a three-run home run to left field, cutting the Phoenix's lead to 10-3.
But Elon kept adding runs to its lead. Connor Offshack hit a two-run single to left field to increase the Phoenix's lead to nine runs. The Aggies cut into their deficit over the next two innings, however. Senior outfielder Michael Logan opened the A&T fourth with a single, followed by a single from senior infielder Devon Rodriguez to put Aggies on first and third.
Freshman Ellis Reid stepped to the plate and hit a slow grounder to shortstop, slow enough to score Logan from third before he was thrown out at first to cut Elon's lead to 12-4. A&T added two more runs in its fifth after Elon replaced right-handed starter Ryan Sprock (W, 2-4) with RHP Sam Nomura. Sprock, who batted as the Phoenix pitcher on Sunday, moved to the designated hitter position after leaving the mound.
Nomura retired the first batter he faced, but junior Canyon Brown reached on an error, and senior outfielder TJ Ash singled through the right side before Nomura loaded the bases by walking senior designated hitter Camden Jackson. Logan hit a groundball up the middle to Elon shortstop James Broderick.
Broderick bobbled the ground ball before stepping on the second-base bag to force out Jackson. Brown scored on the play, Ash moved to third, and Logan reached on the fielder's choice. Nomura later threw the ball away on a Logan pickoff attempt at first, allowing Ash to score to cut Elon's lead to 12-6.
After Elon posted another run in the sixth, the Aggies, who once trailed 10-0, got to within four runs after the sixth inning. Brown delivered a two-out, two-run single to center in the sixth before he advanced to second on a passed ball. Ash posted an RBI when he brought home Brown on a single, cutting the Aggies deficit to 13-9.
Elon damaged A&T's miraculous comeback hopes over the next two innings, scoring four unanswered runs to increase its lead to eight at 17-9. Ash produced an RBI sacrifice fly in the A&T eighth to end the Elon run. A&T's seniors got one last chance to create offense at #TheWar in the ninth inning. Logan singled before senior Chet Sikes doubled to right center, and graduate transfer Grayson Preslar hit an RBI sac fly to left to score Logan.
Graduate Tatsunori Negishi delivered one final blow at War Memorial with an RBI single to score Sikes. The game ended on a fly ball out to center by Williams. Negishi had a fabulous final game at home, going 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. Brown and Ash contributed two RBIs apiece.
In addition to honoring Ash, Brewington, Delisi, Jackson, Logan, Negishi, Preslar, Rodriguez, Sikes, and Williams before the game, the Aggies also honored RHP Connor Blantz, RHP Avery Cain, outfielder Shemar Dalton, RHP Coley Kilpatrick, and RHP Trent Simmons. A&T's season continues on Tuesday with a road game against Gate City rival UNC Greensboro at UNCG Baseball Stadium at 6 p.m.
The regular season ends this weekend. Starting on Thursday, May 16, the team will play a three-game series at Towson University.
