Aggie pitchers walk 12 batters in loss

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 26, 2008 – North Carolina A&T walked just seven batters during a three-game series against Buffalo over the weekend and was rewarded with a three-game sweep of the Bulls.

On Tuesday against Appalachian State, the Aggies pitching staff walked 12 Mountaineer batters and it was costly. The Mountaineers defeated the Aggies 9-6 at War Memorial Stadium thanks to a seven-run fifth inning that included four walks that eventually led to an Appalachian State grand slam.

Jeremy Jones led the Aggies by going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Nelson Santos added two hits and a run scored. The Aggies dropped to 3-1 on the season. “We lost the game on base on balls,’’ said Shumate. “You can’t walk that many players from a team as good as Appalachian State and expect to win.”

The Aggies offense, which is off to a good start this season, started working toward helping the Aggies get off to a 4-0 start. Jeremy Jones’ RBI single to left field scored George Hines to give the Aggies their first lead of the game at 3-2 in the third.

In the fourth, C.J. Beatty added to that lead by smashing out his third home run of the season as he lifted one over the right field fence for a 4-2 Aggies lead. But the Aggies pitching staff ran into control problems in the fifth.

After getting the first batter of the inning to ground out to short, left-handed Aggies starter Ryan Sellers walked Jason Altenhof. Jason Rook followed with a single to center field. Sellers was replaced by reliever Jonathan Smith. Smith came in and walked David Rubinstein to lead the bases for Appalachian State. Andrew Franco made the Aggies pay with a single through the right side, scoring Altenhof.

Rook would then score on a wild pitch, marking the third run of the day the Mountaineers scored on a wild pitch. Rook’s run tied the game at 4. A walk to Isaac Harrow and the Mountaineers bringing up pinch hitter David Towarnicky led to another Shumate change on the mound. This time he went with veteran Chris Eggers. Eggers got Towarnicky to ground out to first, which scored Rubinstein.

With two outs and trailing 5-4, it appeared the Aggies could get out of the inning with minimal damage done. But Eggers walked Jerod Faggart, which led to Wes Hobson’s first career grand slam and a 9-4 Mountaineers lead.

The Aggies tried to fight back in the ninth. Jones singled up the middle to score Nick Mayo, and Nick Rogers blasted a RBI double to left-center to score Jones. But Mountaineers reliever David Rubinstein got Beatty to fly out to right field to end the game.