Phelps picks up his sixth victory of the season

 Box Score
NORFOLK, Va., May 19, 2007 – Ron Phelps has become as valuable as any pitcher head baseball coach Keith Shumate has on his roster. The sophomore out of Roper, N.C., proved his worth again Saturday afternoon at the 2007 MEAC Baseball Tournament, pitching 3.2 innings of scoreless relief to eliminate Delaware State 7-1 at Norfolk State’s Marty L. Miller Field.

N.C. A&T (26-30) will play Saturday at 6 p.m., against the loser of the 2 p.m., Bethune-Cookman/Norfolk State game. Delaware State finishes its season at 22-27-2. Both Delaware State losses in the tournament were against the Aggies.

In his last 20 appearances, which has been spread out over 1 ½ month period and 20 innings of work, Phelps has struck out 26 batters and has a 3.28 ERA. The ERA would be better had it not been for a poor outing against Delaware State on April 29.

On Saturday, he got his revenge against the Hornets. Phelps entered the game in the top of the sixth for starter Nick Rogers with the game tied at 1. The Hornets had already scored in the inning, and Delaware State’s Brandon Gravely was at third with one out.  Phelps got Jamie Friel to groundout to third and ended the inning by getting Winton Weather on a groundout.

The Aggies proceeded to give Phelps some help by breaking open in the seventh. Joe Wade started the rally by singling to right field. After Nick Mayo moved him over to second, the Hornets replaced starter Dan Perkins with Justin Bittner. He didn’t fare well against the Aggies lineup. Bittner walked Jones and gave up an RBI single to Charlie Gamble.

Gamble and Jones moved into scoring position as Hornets left fielder Ryne Scheiwe overthrew Weather at the plate trying to throw out Wade. It was one of five errors on the day for the Hornets. Bittner intentionally walked MEAC-RBI leader Joe McIntyre to get to Nelson Santos. Santos made him pay by singling to left field, scoring Gamble for a 3-1 Aggies lead.

Another Hornets error led to a Kory Kinnear RBI and another Aggies score. Neil Rosser capped off the big inning with a double down the left-field line for a two-run double that scored McIntyre and Santos for a 6-1 Aggies lead.

Phelps pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth and shut down the Hornets in order in the ninth after an error that opened the inning. Phelps did receive help from Rogers on Saturday. Rogers pitched 5.1 innings, gave up just one run and struck out four.

 Hornets starter Dan Perkins (2-6) took the loss despite pitching 6.1 innings, surrendering just four hits and giving up two runs.