Pinch hitters lead Aggies to win

Box Score
GREENSBORO, April 17, 2008 – North Carolina A&T head baseball coach Keith Shumate is looking for any combination, any nine-man lineup that will ignite his offense going into the stretch run of the season.

Six innings into Wednesday night’s ball game against Gardner-Webb at War Memorial Stadium, it seemed not even Shumate’s latest version of a starting lineup was going to get it done. Then all of sudden an old source of offense – Jeremy Jones – started a seventh inning rally. Jones was assisted by offense produced from the Aggies bench. And with that, the Aggies rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the Bulldogs 6-4.

The Aggies, who were one-hit by Campbell Tuesday night, had just two hits going into the seventh and trailed 4-0. But Jones opened the inning with his eighth double of the season. C.J. Beatty followed by reaching first in a scary manner. Gardner-Webb starter Ben Campell’s 1-0 pitch ricocheted off of Beatty’s head, leaving the sophomore outfielder dazed for a few moments.

Beatty stayed in the game. With runners on first and second, Joe McIntyre singled to right field to score Jones and end Campbell’s hope of a shutout. N.C. A&T would soon campaign to end Campbell’s hopes for a win as well. Nick Roger’s single up the middle scored Beatty from third to move the Aggies to within two runs. Roger’s single also ended Campbell’s night as reliever Michael Lewis came in with runners on first and second.

Nelson Santos greeted him by laying down a sacrifice bunt that moved McIntyre and Rogers into scoring position. Shumate then turned to his bench to put the Bulldogs away.

Joe Wade, who came to the plate with just one hit in his last 14 at-bats, hit a pinch-hit double down the right field line to the game at 4 as McIntyre and Rogers scored. After Wade’s heroics, pinch-hitter Jaron Neal stepped to the plate. Neal had appeared in just three games alls season with two at-bats and no hits. He changed all that with an infield single that kept the Aggies rally going by putting runners on first and third for Nick Mayo.

Mayo reached on an error that scored Wade to give the Aggies their first lead at 5-4. James Howard walked to load the bases for Jones who started the seventh-inning rally. Jones ended the rally with a sacrifice fly to center that scored pinch-runner Phillip Brewington.

Jones ended the night by going 2-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI. Rogers went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI as the Aggies improved to 15-23. The Bulldogs dropped to 18-18.

Tim Johnson (6-2) earned the win in relief as he got starter Marquis Frink out of a seventh inning jam by striking out the last two batters he faced. John Primus earned his first save by allowing only one Bulldogs runner to reach in two innings pitched and that runner reached on an error.

The Aggies are back in action this weekend when they head to Farmville, Va., to face Longwood in a Saturday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The three-game series will conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m.