GREENSBORO – Four North Carolina A&T Aggies former baseball players competed in the annual Major League Baseball (MLB) HBCU Swingman Classic on Friday at Globe Life Field, home of the MLB Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. All four Aggies contributed to their respective teams. First baseman Tatsunori Negishi, catcher Canyon Brown and infielder Tre Williams played for the National League team, and right-handed pitcher Corey Kilpatrick played for the American League team.

Negishi started at first base for the NL, and Brown started at catcher. The 2024 baseball season was the first and only season in Aggieland for Negishi. He posted an on-base percentage of .477 during the season and went 1-for-2 with a walk in the Swingman Classic on Friday. He totaled three bases, earning his walk in the visitor's third inning and his base hit in the sixth.

Brown went 0-for-2 at the plate as he struck out looking in the top of the second and flew out right in the fourth. Brown is a strong MLB Draft prospect who earned first-team All-Coastal Athletic Association honors this past season. Brown left the game in the bottom of the fifth. Meanwhile, Williams, who served as mostly a slugger for the Aggies over his two years on the east side of Greensboro, entered Friday's game as an RHP.

Williams entered the game for the NL in the home sixth. Williams pitched an inning, giving up three hits and one run while striking out one. Unlike Williams, Kilpatrick did spend a lot of time on the mound as an Aggie, serving as the Aggies ace in 2024. The AL put Kilpatrick in the visitor's sixth, and he did give up a hit to former teammate Negishi.

However, Negishi later got caught stealing in the sixth to eliminate him from the base paths as Kilpatrick struck out Alabama State's Ali LaPread. Kilpatrick also struck out Southern's Khyle Radcliffe to complete his scoreless inning pitched. Kilpatrick's AL team beat the NL 5-4.