GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T freshman Bruce Wyche cushioned A&T's lead in the eighth inning, and right-hander Jacob Halford (S, 2) struck out the tying run in the ninth to lead A&T to a 7-5 non-conference baseball win over the Davidson Wildcats Tuesday night at War Memorial Stadium.
The win improves the Aggies to 10-20 overall as they completed the first of five games this week.
Freshman JT Taylor went 2-for-5 with a run scored, and senior Kristian Amaro had a 2-for-4 day, including a home run.
Before Halford went to the mound in the ninth, the Aggies held on to a thin 6-5 lead going into the home eighth. The frame opened with sophomore Ellis Reid getting hit with a pitch to him on first base before an Enrique Wood sacrifice bunt moved him to second.
Wyche brought Reid home to give the Aggies a two-run lead with an RBI single. RHP Ed Hall struck out the final two batters he faced to send the game to the visitor's ninth.
Halford replaced Carter Daniels (W, 1-2), who pitched a scoreless eighth and retired the first batter he faced before Cider Cannon singled. Michael O'Shaughnessy followed by hitting into a force play. Cannon was eliminated from the base paths for the second out, but O'Shaughnessy moved to second on a throwing error.
Anthony Torreso came to the plate to represent the tying run. Halford battled with him for nine pitches before getting Torreso to strike out swinging to end the game. O'Shaughnessy went 3-for-5, including a three-run homer in the seventh inning as the Wildcats dropped to 14-17 this season.
"We got off to a great start in the game and got a little bit flat," said Hall. "Our bats kind of halted a little bit in the middle, which I would like to see get better, but they are a good team. They've won some big games this year, so it's good to get a win and finish the game off with a big knock to give us some breathing room."
Five Aggies stepped to the mound on Tuesday, starting with junior RHP Sean Duke. He tossed two scoreless innings, striking out four and only surrendering one walk. By the time Duke left the game, the Aggies already had a 2-0 lead thanks to freshman Tyler Smith scoring on a wild pitch in the first and Amaro homering in the second. But a humungous third inning gave the Aggies a nice advantage. The Wildcats replaced RHP Brycen Champey (L, 1-7) with RHP Jacob Vokal to open the home third. Vokal walked Smith on 10 pitches before Taylor singled to put two runners on. Senior AJ Jones then stepped to the plate to blast a double to right field to score Smith.
Freshman Savoi Edwards followed with a two-run double to give the Aggies a 5-0 lead. A passed ball allowed Edwards to move to third before a groundout by senior Enrique Wood scored Edwards. Wood was originally called safe on a close play at first base, but his hit got reversed upon review. Edwards' run still counted, giving A&T a 6-0 lead.
A&T's victory is a bounce back from losing the final two games of its Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series with Stony Brook last weekend.
"Obviously, this is big. We didn't play really well this weekend to finish the series," said A&T head coach Ben Hall. "We weren't happy about it, but Tuesday is a new week. Five games in a week, you have to figure out pitching and stretching bullpen guys and keep outings short. I thought the guys did a good job."
Davidson rallied thanks to two runs in the fourth and O'Shaughnessy's home run in the seventh before Wyche and Halford combined to preserve the win for A&T.
The Aggies return to action on Wednesday when they travel to High Point University to play the Panthers at 6 p.m., ahead of a three-game CAA series at The War against Monmouth, starting Friday evening at 6.
