BROOKLINE, Mass. – The North Carolina A&T baseball team had a competitive contest going on against the No. 1 team in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) on Thursday before that No. 1 team, the Northeastern Huskies, put up eight runs in the home eighth to defeat the Aggies 11-2 at Friedman Diamond.
A&T dropped its sixth straight to fall to 15-35 overall and 9-16 in the CAA despite freshman Tyler Smith's 2-for-4 evening that included two RBIs and a run scored. The Huskies won their 22nd straight game, improving to 43-9 overall and 23-2 in the league play. The Huskies have clinched the CAA regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed at the 2025 CAA Baseball Championship Tournament, May 24-27, in Charleston, SC.
A&T senior right-handed starter Jacob Halford (L, 1-6) became Thursday's most sympathetic figure. The N.C. State University transfer gave the Aggies a strong start before running into trouble in the eighth. His stat line does not come close to measuring how well he pitched. Halford did not give up a hit until the Northeastern fourth inning.
Halford, however, ran into trouble in the home fifth. Two Huskie singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs. Northeastern left fielder Harrison Feinberg took the first pitch he saw from Halford and singled to score Alex Lane, who reached on a single. Jack Goodman then delivered another two-out hit for the Huskies, a two-run single up the middle to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead. The inning ended when the Aggies caught Feinberg in a rundown between second and third base.
Northeastern starter Will Jones (W, 10-0) walked A&T freshman JT Taylor with one out in the visitors' sixth, leading to Jones leaving the game for RHP Charlie Walker. Walker got junior Andrew Tinsley to hit into a double play to end the inning. Meanwhile, Halford recovered from his fifth inning to retire the Huskies in order in the sixth and seventh innings to keep the game close.
Before Northeaster's impressive eighth inning, the Aggies did some damage in the top half of the frame. With one out, Walker hit freshman Bruce Wyche with the first pitch of the at-bat. Smith followed with a two-run shot to center field on a 1-2 pitch to bring the Aggies to within one to cut the Huskies lead to 3-2. Two consecutive groundouts by the Aggies led to home eighth.
A walk and an infield single put two runners on against Halford. Goodman followed with a two-run single to give Northeastern a 5-2 advantage. After the Goodman RBIs, the Aggies quickly got two outs, but another Huskies rally started when Matt Brinker and Will Fosberg singled. Lane brought both men home with a single, ending Halford's evening after 7.2 innings and four strikeouts.
Jack Doyle added another run when he scored on a wild pitch to put the Huskies ahead 8-2. Northeastern closed out the scoring in its eight-run eighth with a three-run home run from Cam Maldonado. Northeastern turned to RHP Brett Dunham in the ninth and struck out the first two batters he faced. Senior Enrique Wood singled, but the game ended on a Nick DiCarlo pop-out.
Goodman led the Huskies by going 3-for-4 with four RBIs. The two teams will play Game 2 on Friday at 3 p.m., from Friedman Diamond.
