Jones goes 2-for-4 in his return

Box Score
RALEIGH, February 21, 2007 – Jeremy Jones looked like his old self on Wednesday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough as N.C. State defeated the Aggies 5-3 in the Aggies opener at Doak Field at Dial Park. Jones went 2-for-4 with a run scored after missing most of last season with a broken wrist.

 Jones, the 2005 MEAC Player of the Year and a 2006 preseason third-team All-American, was drafted by the Colorado Rockies last summer. But he decided to return to N.C. A&T to finish his education and fine tune his game. Neil Rosser was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Jones got things started by leading off the top of the second inning with a double into the right-field corner.  Charlie Gamble drove him in with a clean single to center field. Kory Kinnear singled through the right side of the infield to put runners on first and second with none out, but Vince Gutierrez turned Joe McIntyre’s grounder up the middle into a double play and Joe Wade grounded out to end the threat with the Aggies holding a 1-0 lead.

Clayton Shunick took over for Wolfpack starter Sam Brown to start the third inning, and Neil Rosser greeted him with a double to the wall in straightaway center field. Nick Mayo advanced Rosser to third with a grounder to second base, and C.J. Beatty made it 2-0 with an RBI-grounder to first base. Aggies ace John Primus coasted through three innings and nearly escaped the fourth before running into trouble. With two down, Mike Roskopf singled to right, and Ryan Pond made it a 2-2 game with a homer to left-center.

Mangum gave the Wolfpack the lead at 3-2 with a one-out, pinch-hit solo home run to left in the bottom of the fifth, but the Aggies came right back in the top of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Beatty and Nelson Santos. The Aggies tied the game in the sixth when Beatty doubled home Nelson Santos, who reached second on a double.  Both Beatty and Santos earned their first career RBI.

Ramon Corona led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk off Jonathan Smith and went to second on a wild pitch. With three of the next four hitters being left-handed, Aggies coach Keith Shumate brought in lefthander Tim Johnson, and he promptly struck out Jeremy Synan and Roskopf. With first base open, Johnson gave an intentional walk to Pond, and pinch-hitter Ryan Howard reached on an infield single to load the bases. Cyril Daniel came in to face Mangum, and Rosser’s passed ball allowed Corona to score the go-ahead run.

N.C. State added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Howard singled to center field with one down and Marcus Jones doubled to right-center to put runners on second and third with one down. Mangum’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Howard to make it 5-3.

Joey Cutler (1-0), the fourth of six pitchers used by NC State, got the win after recording the last out and snuffing out an A&T rally in the sixth inning. Cutler faced just one batter, but with the potential go-ahead runner standing at third base. Eryk McConnell retired the side in the ninth, allowing one hit but rolling a double-play grounder to pick up his second save of the season. Jonathan Smith (0-1) faced just one batter, but he wound up scoring the winning run to saddle Smith with the loss.

The Aggies are in action again this weekend when they host Cincinnati for a three-game series starting Friday at 3 p.m.