GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T received a solid outing from senior right-handed starter Angel Ortiz (W, 2-1) and got the bats rolling during the middle innings to defeat Marist 8-1 in non-conference baseball play at War Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Freshman JT Taylor had a 3-for-3 evening that included an RBI. Fellow freshman Tyler Smith had a 2-for-4 day with two RBIs and a run scored as A&T improved to 3-4 overall. Meanwhile, Ortiz overcame a short outing against the Clemson Tigers six days ago to throw seven innings, striking out seven while only giving up two hits and zero earned runs.
"Angel pitched really well," said A&T head coach Ben Hall. "We kind of pushed him because he didn't feel like he pitched his best last week. That wasn't indicative of who he is, and it was out of character. But today it was what you would expect."
Hall said Ortiz had all three pitches going when he needed them. A two-base error helped in the visitor's first helped the Red Foxes secure their only run. It led to an RBI single from Jason Claiborn, giving the Red Foxes a 1-0 lead.
Marist started RHP Tyler Hartley (L, 0-2), and over the game's first 4 ½ innings, it appeared those at The War would be treated to an intriguing pitcher's duel. The Aggies only had one hit over the first four innings. One of those hits included an RBI single from sophomore Jason Campo to tie the game at 1-1 going into the fifth.
Ortiz struck out the side in the visitor's fifth before the Aggies had their biggest offensive outburst in the bottom half of the inning.
Hartley walked freshman Caleb Beals to open the frame before junior Nick DiCarlo reached on an error and Smith walked to load the bases. Beals and DiCarlo scored on separate wild pitches from Hartley to give the Aggies a 3-1 lead. AJ Jones then singled through the right side to score Smith. Senior Kristian Amaro kept the rally going with a single, but Campo lined out to left for the inning's second out.
No matter. Taylor stepped up and hit a clutch two-out single to left center to score Jones for a 5-1 lead. Unfortunately, the inning ended when Taylor was thrown out at second, trying to stretch his single to a double.
The Aggies retired the Red Foxes in order again in the sixth before RHP Logan Scholl replaced Hartley to open the home sixth. Junior Andrew Tinsley singled off Scholl to open the inning before reaching second on a wild pitch, setting an RBI double down the left field line from Beals. Pinch runner Nigel Robinson reached third on a bunt single DiCarlo before Smith's RBI sacrifice fly to left gave the Aggies a 7-1 advantage.
"Their guy (Hartley) had a good arm. We weren't quite on time early in the game, but once we got the leadoff man on, we got the big hit from Campo to tie the game. It took the pressure off a little bit and the quality of at-bats started to come a lot more."
Smith added an RBI single in the eighth. Freshman RHP Braxton Davis pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out one. Fellow freshman right-hander Jordan Bright pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out one.
The teams play Game 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m., from The War.
