GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T baseball team closed out its 2025 home schedule on Sunday by celebrating 10 players and a student manager on its annual Senior Day at War Memorial Stadium before the game.
Unfortunately, the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) game did not end well for those seniors and the other Aggies as the College of Charleston completed a three-game sweep of the Aggies with a 12-2 in eight innings. A main part of the Aggies' future, freshman Tyler Smith, led the Aggies by going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Despite Smith's efforts, the Aggies dropped to 15-33 overall and 9-15 in CAA play.
Conversely, the Cougars placed themselves in a better position to earn a berth to the 2025 CAA Baseball Championship Tournament, which they will host at Patriots Point in Charleston, SC, May 21-24. Charleston is 31-19 overall and 13-11 in league play. The weekend's results put Charleston in a four-way tie for third place. The top six teams, with considerations for tiebreakers, earn a berth to the conference tournament.
All of that aside, Sunday's game at The War stood for more than just rankings. Senior AJ Jones started the game at second base but knew he could not finish it. After the game's first pitch was thrown, a called strike to Charleston leadoff hitter Dariyan Pendegrass, the Aggies substituted Jones with Smith at second base.
It was an emotional moment for Jones and his teammates as he slowly jogged off the field in his final game at The War. Unfortunately, right-hander Evan Hart (L, 1-2), also honored on Senior Day, left the game early too because the Cougars scored three runs in their first inning. Junior RHP Matt Murtagh entered the game and got Alex LaCoste to strike out to end the frame.
The Aggies got on the board in their second inning when another part of their future, freshman left fielder Savoi Edwards, smashed his second home run of the series, a solo shot over the right-field wall to cut the Cougars lead to 3-1. LaCoste moved the Cougars lead back to three runs with a solo home run in the Charleston fourth inning. The Aggies cut into the Cougars lead again in the home fifth.
Charleston left-handed starter Hayden Thomas walked junior Luis Gomez to open the A&T fifth. The Cougars replaced Thomas with RHP Aidan Hunter (W, 6-3), who unleashed a wild pitch soon after his entrance, moving Gomez to second. The wild pitch set up Smith for a one-out RBI single to left field, cutting Charleston's lead to 4-2. But the A&T threat ended when freshman JT Taylor hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Cougars began to pull away from there. Another LaCoste homer and a two-run homer from Pendergrass gave Charleton a 7-2 lead in the visitors' sixth inning. Another run in the seventh gave the Cougars a six-run lead before Charleston's four-run eighth put the Aggies in danger of being run-ruled with a 10-run deficit after seven innings played.
Will Baumhofer's two-run home run fueled Charleston's eighth inning as they took a 12-2 lead. Smith tried to keep the game going with a leadoff single in the A&T eighth. But Hunter retired the Aggies in order after Smith's single to end the game. Hunter threw four innings, giving up three hits, no runs and striking out two to get the win. Pendegrass led the Cougars by going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
In addition to honoring Jones and Hart, the Aggies honored pitchers Diego Barrett, Carter Daniels, Jacob Halford, Angel Ortiz, Darius Robinson, Stirling Thomas, catcher Kristian Amaro, and infielder Enrique Wood. In addition, the Aggies also honored student manager Tee Rhoda.
The Aggies will end the 2025 season with a trip to Boston to face the No. 1 team in the conference, the Northeastern Huskies, in a three-game series. The Huskies have won 20 straight games to earn their No. 1 spot. The series' first game is scheduled for Friday, May 15 at 3 p.m.
