GREENSBORO – UNC Greensboro broke open a tightly contested non-conference baseball game on Friday. A five-run fifth resulted in a 9-4 win over the North Carolina A&T Aggies at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
In a rare three-game series between the two Division I baseball Gate City schools, the Aggies powered their way to 11 hits, including doubles from freshmen JT Taylor and Savoi Edwards and another from junior Nick DiCarlo. Unfortunately, the 3-12 Aggies also committed six errors. Meanwhile, UNCG improved to 8-9.
Senior right-hander Angel Ortiz started for A&T, giving up a run in the first and the second. The Aggies did get a run back in the visitor's half of the second.
Edwards led off the frame with a single off UNCG starter, RHP Sam Murchison. Senior Enrique Wood followed with a single, and freshman Bruce Wyche put both runners in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Wyche's sacrifice set up DiCarlo's RBI single to right field. The Aggies tied the game 2-2 in the fourth inning as Edwards hit a one-out double to left field and Wyche later delivered a two-out RBI single up the middle. A&T explored doing further damage in the frame, but the Spartans threw out Wyche trying to score on DiCarlo's double to right.
UNCG quickly recaptured the lead in its half of the fourth on an RBI single from Jeremy Wolf. The Spartans took a two-run lead in the fifth on a Brantley Truitt RBI sac fly before the Aggies roared back again in the visitor's seventh.
UNCG LHP Noah Chapman (W, 2-1) hit Wyche with a 1-1 pitch to open the frame. DiCarlo moved him to second on a sac bunt before senior AJ Jones brought him home on an RBI single to left. Freshman Tyler Smith put Aggies on first and second with another single off Chapman. Taylor followed with a double to score Jones, tying the game 4-4. But for the second time in the game, an Aggie was thrown out at home, as Smith was tagged out trying to give the Aggies the lead.
UNCG's big seventh started Trey Truitt hitting a single through the right side. He eventually moved to third on a throwing error before Luke Holland was hit with a pitch from RHP Diego Barrett. That ended the night for Barrett, who gave way to senior RHP Jacob Halford.
What followed was an RBI single to left from Parker Wright to give the Spartans the lead. A walk to Jacob Dilley loaded the bases, leading to a two-run single from Brantley Truitt to provide UNCG with a 7-4 lead. Two A&T errors led to two more UNCG runs to give the Spartans a five-run advantage.
The Aggies put one additional base runner over their final two at-bats, but that resulted in a double play. Taylor went 2-for-2 against the Spartans and reached base four times. Edwards scored twice and had two hits. Dilley had a 3-for-4 day for the Spartans, scoring a run and driving in another.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. Game 3 will be Monday at 4 p.m. because rain is forecasted for Sunday.
