Beatty records five hits on the day

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GREENSBORO, April 21, 2007 – The North Carolina A&T baseball team was 5-3 in one-run games coming into Saturday’s doubleheader with Longwood at War Memorial Stadium. On Saturday, the Aggies went 1-1 in one-run games as they split the doubleheader with the Lancers with a 4-3 win in the first game and an 11-10 loss in Game 2.

The Aggies record moved to 16-23, while the Lancers had their record move to 30-13 with the split. Joe McIntyre went 2-for-2 in the first game with a home run, and the Aggies received outstanding pitching performances from starter Tim Johnson and relievers Jody Calloway and Ron Phelps. Freshman C.J. Beatty produced the game-winning RBI in the seventh.

The Aggies came into the seventh inning trailing 3-2. Two pitches into the seventh and that had changed. McIntyre hit a line drive over the right field wall for his third home run of the season and the 13^th of his career. Joel Battle followed McIntyre’s blast by using his long reach to punch a single into right field.

Phillip Brewington came in to pinch run for Battle. He quickly used his superb speed to steal second. Longwood starter John Farrell slowed the Aggies momentum by getting Kory Kinnear to fly out to left and Neil Rosser to strike out. But Beatty hit a fly ball to shallow center field that Lancers center fielder Tyler Ames made a diving attempt to grab, but the ball popped out of his glove as he made contact with the ground.

Beatty’s bloop single scored Brewington to give the Aggies the lead. After giving up a one-out single in the eighth, Calloway struck out Frank Berry II and got pinch-hitter Casey Havers to groundout to end the threat.

Phelps, the Aggies closer, continued to his excellent play. He retired the Lancers in order in the ninth to earn his fifth save of the season. He already has nine career saves in just his sophomore season. Calloway earned the win to improve to 2-0. Calloway and Phelps’ performances followed Johnson’s excellent start in which he pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five hits, three runs and striking out five.

Farrell took the loss. Lancers third baseman Phil Cerreto went 2-for-2 in the first game with two RBI.

Cerreto had an even better performance in the second game. He went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while teammate Tyler Childress was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBI. Childress’ biggest blow came in the fifth with the Aggies leading 7-4. Childress sent a John Primus pitch into the grandstands in left field for a three-homer to tie the game at 7.

The hurt wouldn’t stop there, unfortunately. Havers singled off of Aggies reliever Cyril Daniel. Scott Kimble moved him to second with a bunt sacrifice, setting up Paul Heidler’s sharp groundball that went through the legs of Charlie Gamble’s legs into right field, scoring Havers to give the Lancers the lead.

The Aggies ran into more trouble when Heilder advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Robbie Bailey walked. Bailey then stole second, which opened the door for Heidler to steal home, which he did to put the Lancers up 9-7. The Lancers capped off their inning as Ames walked and Cerreto earned an infield single. Heidler scored off of Cerreto’s single, but an errant throw also allowed Bailey to score.

The Aggies would chip away at the Lancers lead. A two-run homer from Charlie Gamble, the 31^st of his career, cut the lead to 11-9 in the sixth. In the home half of the seventh, (Only seven innings are played in the second of doubleheaders), Beatty led off the inning with a single through the right side. He moved to third on two wild pitches. Nelson Santos brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left to make it a one-run game.

As a pinch-hitter, Kinnear walked. The Lancers then turned to Lance Harting. Aggies coach put the speedy Brewington back on the base pads as this time he replaced Kinnear. Brewington moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. But Harting struck out Nick Mayo and got Joe Wade to groundout to second to end the game.

Brett Mangigian earned the win in relief for the Lancers, while Daniel took the loss. Gamble went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI in the second game. McIntyre was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, and is hitting .517 (15-for-29) in his last seven games with 16 RBI and two home runs. Beatty had five hits on the day, and Wade had three hits on the day.

 The two teams play again on Sunday at 1 p.m., from War Memorial Stadium.