GREENSBORO – If you like offense and comebacks on top of comebacks and scores that resemble football results, then War Memorial Stadium is where you want to be this weekend.
North Carolina A&T and William & Mary played the second game of their three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) baseball series on Saturday, with the Tribe using 23 hits, including nine extra-base hits, to defeat the Aggies 18-13 at The War. It marked the second straight game in which the Aggies reached double-figure scoring.
The two teams have combined to score 50 runs over two days after A&T's 11-8 win on Friday. Despite another solid performance from the freshman duo of Tyler Smith and JT Taylor, the Aggies dropped to 5-15 overall and 1-1 in CAA play. The Aggies also got two three-run homers on Saturday.
W&M is 7-16 overall and 1-1 in league play after getting five RBIs from Charlie Iriotakis, four from Lucas Carmichael and three from apiece from Anthony Greco and Jamie Laskofski. Smith had a 3-for-6 afternoon with four RBIs and three runs scored for the Aggies. Taylor added a 3-for-6 afternoon at the plate with three runs scored and two RBIs.
W&M used four pitchers during the offensive outbreak, while the Aggies used five. Both starters – W&M right-hander Reed Interdonato and A&T RHP Matt Murtagh – were gone by the fourth inning. W&M, who held a 7-0 lead on Friday before losing, held a 7-3 lead going into the home half of the third inning. But sophomore Jason Campo hit a three-run home run off Interdonato to get the Aggies to within one.
W&M got a run back in the visitor's fourth thanks to an RBI triple from Iriotakis to give the Tribe an 8-6 advantage. RHP Owen Pierce took to the mound in the A&T fourth and gave up an RBI single to senior AJ Jones, scoring Taylor, who reached on a single and an error.
The Tribe put together a five-run fifth that put some distance between it and the Aggies, taking a 13-7 lead into the home fifth. A&T got the second of its two three-run blasts as Smith went yard to cut W&M's lead to 13-10 going into the sixth inning. Both teams actually went scoreless in the sixth inning before the Tribe answered with an RBI single from Laskofski and a two-run homer from Iriotakis to take a 16-10 advantage after 6 ½ innings played.
A&T kept fighting offensively in its seventh. Freshman Bruce Wyche doubled with two outs before Smith singled up the middle to score him from second. Taylor followed by crushing a double to center field to bring the Aggies to within four. After a scoreless eighth, the Tribe added to its lead with a home run from Carmichael and an RBI single from Iriotakis to take an 18-12 lead into the A&T ninth.
RHP Tyler Kelly retired the first two Aggies he faced before Taylor doubled and Jones was hit with a 1-2 pitch. Freshman Savoi Edwards then reached on a throwing error that allowed Taylor to score, cutting W&M's lead to five runs. Kelly then walked senior Enrique Wood to put runners at first and third before Campo's flyball out to center ended the game.
The two teams return for the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. from The War.
