Gamble goes 4-for-4, including a home run

 Box Score
GREENSBORO, April 3, 2007  – The North Carolina A&T baseball team lost to UNC-Greensboro 12-6 in the second annual Gate City Classic from First Horizon Park on Tuesday. “It’s not always about the scoreboard,’’ said head coach Keith Shumate. “Sometimes it’s about trying to get better.”

 As the season progresses, Shumate continues to look for the arms that will shape his bullpen. With 12 conference games remaining, he knows he’ll need quality middle relievers and closers to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The only way he knows how to get his pitchers better is using them during his remaining non-conference games, which included Tuesday night’s game against the Spartans.

 “We want to win every game as bad as anyone else,’’ said Shumate. “We’re going to try to win (non-conference games), but if you don’t take the opportunity to get better in these type games, you’re doing your team a disservice. If you look at the first 18, 19 games on our schedule, there are no pushovers. That’s by design because we play in a tough conference and we need our players prepared.”

The Aggies and the Spartans put five pitchers apiece on the mound. UNC-G scored three runs in the first inning off N.C. A&T starter Nick Rogers. The Aggies put runs on the board in the fourth when Charlie Gamble, who went 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, led the inning with a double. Kory Kinnear singled him home to put the Aggies down 3-1.

N.C. A&T was the first to go to the pen. Shumate replaced Rogers in the fifth after he surrendered an RBI double to Scott Scheinder to give the Spartans a 4-1 lead. Greg Felters greeted Aggies reliever Marquis Frink with fly ball to center field that scored Guy Welsh from third to put the Spartans up by four runs.

After the Spartans scored two runs in the sixth, the Aggies put up a run in the seventh when Jeremy Jones doubled to left field to score Joe McIntyre. UNC-G blew the game open in the seventh, however, with five runs as the Spartans capitalized on two Aggie errors.

The Aggies added on two runs apiece in the eighth and the ninth, which included a two-run homer from Gamble, only his second of the season, but the 26^th of his career.

“My batting average is good, but my power numbers are down,’’ said Gamble. “I’ve been working on changing my approach at the plate to get more power and it worked tonight. We’re going to have to hit with power as the season goes on.”

The season continues tomorrow when the Aggies face Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C., on Wednesday. But the crucial three-game series for the Aggies starts this weekend when the Aggies face defending MEAC Champion Bethune-Cookman at War Memorial Stadium. N.C. A&T will play two games against the Wildcats on Saturday before playing an ESPNU televised game against the Wildcats on Sunday at 1 p.m., from War Memorial.