Aggies try to win second championship in three years

 

GREENSBORO, May 15, 2007 – There are no guarantees, but there is a good chance that Charlie Gamble and Jeremy Jones are entering their final games together. Together, the duo has put together two of the greatest careers in the history of North Carolina A&T’s baseball program.

Jones has been deemed an All-American at some point in his career by four different baseball publications or organizations. Gamble holds nine different Aggie records, and both men have entered various seasons as national player of the year candidates. The two will try to add to their legacy by leading the Aggies to their second MEAC Baseball Championship in three years when the Aggies compete in the 2007 MEAC Baseball Tournament May 17-20 at Marty L. Miller Field on the campus of Norfolk State University. 

Gamble is a senior who hopes to play more baseball following his N.C. A&T career. And while Jones has one more season of eligibility remaining because of a medical redshirt in 2006, he is looking to be drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft again. In 2006, the Colorado Rockies took Jones in the 25^th round.

Until their N.C. A&T afterlife arrive, the two will try to make it to another NCAA Regional. In 2005, the Aggies advanced to the Clemson Regional, where they went into the seventh inning tied with the Tigers before a big seventh inning ended their upset bid. The Aggies were later eliminated by Oral Roberts in the double elimination regional. Gamble was 4-for-7 in the regional, while Jones was named to the all-regional team with a .600 batting average.

“We would love to go back,’’ said Gamble. “We felt like there were opportunities we didn’t capitalize on. We feel like we left some things on the table.”

The road to return there will not be easy. The third-seeded Aggies open with No. 4 seed Delaware State on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Hornets took two out of three from the Aggies in late April. If the Aggies win they will play the Florida A&M/Norfolk State winner Friday afternoon at 2. A loss would put the Aggies in the loser’s bracket, where they will play 6 p.m., Friday.

Bethune-Cookman is the top seed. The Wildcats recently had the nation’s longest winning streak come to an end at 15. The Aggies are the only MEAC team to defeat the Wildcats this season as they ended Bethune-Cookman’s 21-game winning steak in the conference on April 8 with a 14-11 win at War Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats are not the only team to experience the Aggies offensive might. Jones and Gamble are not the only threats in the Aggies lineup. The Aggies are among the top 25 teams in the nation in home runs, doubles and slugging percentage. Gamble leads the MEAC in batting average (.407) and is 26^th in the nation. Joe McIntyre leads the MEAC in RBI, C.J. Beatty is tied for the league lead in home runs and the Aggies have eight players batting better than .300.

With the offense in place, pitching will be the key to a championship for the Aggies. N.C. A&T has a 7.09 ERA on the season, but the good news is ace John Primus is coming off his best outing of the season. He didn’t receive a decision, but he went 8.2 innings against Jackson State, giving up just one earned run and four hits in a 3-2 Aggies win. Ron Phelps has been steady out of the bullpen. He leads the MEAC in saves with six and has closed out a league-best 21 games.

As usual, however, it is Jones and Gamble who are the top hitters in the lineup. They are the two Aggies who reach base the most, and the Aggies hope they are the two that can lead them to another NCAA postseason appearance.