Primus pitches his second career shutout

 Box Score
NORFOLK, Va., May 19, 2007 – One of the big questions around the 2007 MEAC Baseball Tournament at Norfolk State’s Marty L. Miller Field was when would North Carolina A&T head coach Keith Shumate turn to his ace pitcher John Primus in the tournament? The answer came on Sunday evening when Primus took the mound an elimination game against Norfolk State, and the junior out of Garner, N.C., made his arrival well worth the wait for Aggie fans.

He pitched a complete-game, eight-hit shutout and struck out eight to lead N.C. A&T to a 6-0 win over the Spartans. Primus' performance added to the number of impressive outings the Aggies have had throughout the tournament. The Aggies team ERA for the tournament is miniscule 1.75.

The win advances the Aggies to Sunday’s championship game where they will play the top-seeded Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at 2 p.m. A Bethune-Cookman win will give the Wildcats their ninth championship in the last 10 seasons. If N.C. A&T wins, the two teams will play again at 6 p.m. 

The Aggies are looking for the second MEAC Championship in the last three seasons. Nelson Santos and Kory Kinnear had two hits apiece for the Aggies, while Neil Rosser registered two RBI.  “We’re going to go out tomorrow and play baseball the way we have all season,’’ said Shumate. “We’re approaching it like it’s a baseball game.”

N.C. A&T is the only MEAC team this season to beat Bethune-Cookman this season, defeating the Wildcats 14-11 on April 8. In fact, the Aggies snapped the Wildcats 20-game conference win streak on that same day.

The Aggies earned a chance to face the Wildcats (32-24) by defeating Delaware State earlier in the day and using Primus’ performance later in the day to eliminate the Spartans. Primus never allowed a runner to reach third base in improving to 4-4 on the season.

Offensively, the Aggies gave him all the runs he would need in the second inning. With two outs in the second, Santos and Kinnear put together back-to-back singles, leading to Rosser’s RBI single to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. C.J. Beatty followed with the Aggies fourth straight single, which scored Kinnear from second to give the Aggies a 2-0 advantage.

Norfolk State starter Frankie Caldeyro settled down from there, and the Aggies didn’t mount a serious threat again until the eighth. Jeremy Jones led off the inning with a single. The Spartans turned to Ernie Banks, but Banks ran into control problems. Charlie Gamble – the first batter he faced – to put runners on first and second.

Joe McIntyre moved the runners into scoring position with a fly ball to right field. Banks walked the next two batters he faced, forcing in a run to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead. The Spartans replaced Banks with Rocco Savage. Savage hit the first batter he faced in Neil Rosser, forcing in another run. The final two Aggie runs came on a wild pitch and a throwing error by Spartans catcher Lyall Foran that allowed Santos and Kinnear to score.  

The Aggies improved to 27-30 on the season, while the Spartans end their season at 25-25. Caldeyro (1-4) took the loss for the Spartans despite pitching seven innings and giving up just three runs. Moriba George, Banks and John Boyd had two hits apiece.