GREENSBORO – A crucial call in the fourth inning of North Carolina A&T baseball's contest against Marist seemed to open the door for the Red Foxes to turn offensive against the Aggies to win 13-3 during the second game of a three-game series at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The rubber match is on Sunday at 1 p.m. from The War.
On Saturday, freshmen Tyler Smith and Bruce Wyche doubled. Sophomore Jason Campo also doubled, and senior AJ Jones homered, with the Aggies dropping to 3-5 overall. Marist's Brady Steinert went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two doubles to help the Red Foxes win their first game of the season to improve to 1-8.
Two of A&T's doubles came in the first inning as Wyche connected on a one-out double before freshman JT Taylor singled to advance him to third. Campo's double drove home Wyche to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. Senior Kristian Amaro's RBI sacrifice fly gave A&T right-handed starter Gavin Sentell (L, 1-2) a 2-0 lead heading into the second inning.
Scott Esposito put the Red Foxes on the board with an RBI double to left field. Steinert followed with another double before Sentell earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the second-inning threat. Sentell worked through a one-out double in the third, mainly behind a successful pickoff move at second base.
Sentell opened the fourth by walking Jason Claiborne before Nathan Lincoln singled, which was routine. The significance of the hit is when Claiborne tries to advance to third. The relay throw from Nick DiCarlo went to third, with Jones covering at third. The throw arrived before Claiborne, but Claiborne made a nifty leap to avoid Jones' tag.
The call was that Claiborne did just that even though the Aggies believed Jones' tag landed on Claiborne's thigh. After Claiborne was ruled safe, the Red Foxes offense sparked. Sentell did strikeout the next batter he faced, but Steinert hit a two-run single to center field to give the Red Foxes a 3-2 lead. It would be the first two runs in 13 unanswered scored by Marist.
Dylan Millman kept the rally going with a single to put runners on first and second. Luke Monico singled home Steinert to give Marist a 4-1 lead. An error at first base allowed Millman to score to complete the Red Foxes' four-run fourth. Esposito added an RBI single in the fifth before two RBI sac flies gave Marist an 8-2 lead.
Marist's five-run eighth gave the Red Foxes a comfortable lead before Jones hit a solo homer in the ninth for the Aggies. The Red Foxes got a strong outing from LHP Will Taylor (W, 1-0), who went seven innings, giving up six hits on two and striking out 5. Taylor, Campo and Jones went 2-for-4.
