BLANKPAGEDAYTONA BEACH, Fla., APRIL 5, 2008 – The North Carolina A&T baseball team figured out how to be successful against Bethune-Cookman’s great pitching, but the Aggies couldn’t slow down the Wildcats powerful bats as they dropped two games to the Wildcats on Saturday at Jack Robinson Park, 18-6 and 10-7.
The Wildcats (18-11, 5-0 MEAC) spotted the Aggies a 4-0 lead in the second game before rallying. Jones led the Aggies in Game 2 by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Joe McIntyre contributed with a two-hit, three-RBI performance including a home run. C.J. Beatty and Nick Rogers had two hits apiece.
N.C. A&T jumped on Bethune-Cookman starter Joseph Gautier early. Jones hit a one-out single to center field and went to second on a passed ball. Beatty followed with another single and Rogers’ single scored Jones from third for a 1-0 Aggies lead. McIntyre cleared the bases with his fourth home run of he season, this one a three-run homer over the right field wall for a 4-0 Aggies advantage.
The Aggies held on to that lead for a long time because of an extended rain delay. When the two teams returned to the field, the Wildcats didn’t take long to even things. Bethune-Cookman scored four runs in the second to tie the game at 4.
The Wildcats then took the lead off of Aggies starter Jody Calloway in the third. B-CU’s Neal Jones and Osvaldo Torres led the inning with back-to-back singles. Emmanuel Castro moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Jeremy Ruperto’s groundout to second gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 5-4 as Jones scored from third. An infield single by Patrick Jones scored Torres to give the Wildcats a two-run lead.
The Wildcats would go on to extend their lead to 10-5 going into the sixth. The Aggies would add a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from John Primus that scored Nick Mayo. Going into seventh of a seven-inning game, Beatty kept the Aggies alive with a solo homer off of Wildcats reliever Chris Chapman to move the Aggies to within three.
After a flyout, McIntyre kept the Aggies comeback attempt going with a single off of Chapman. Chapman then walked Neil Rosser, which led to the Wildcats bringing in Phil Enright with tying run at the plate. After getting Mayo to foul out, Enright walked pinch-hitter Jaron Neal to load the bases. But Enright would strike out Primus to end the game and earn his second save of the season.
In the first game, Nelson Santos led the Aggies with three hits, two runs scored and a RBI. The Aggies fall to 12-18 on the season and 4-4 in the MEAC. The two teams play again 2 p.m., Sunday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.