Paulino puts together another solid outing

Box Score 1
Box Score 2
GREENSBORO, April 4, 2009 –  Freshman starter Esterlin Paulino had another superb outing, but Bethune-Cookman starter Eric Thomas also had an exceptional outing and the Wildcats offense produced enough offense to come away with a 4-0 win over the North Carolina A&T baseball team in the second game of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at War Memorial Stadium.

The Aggies lost the first game 9-3.

Although Paulino was the tough-luck loser and dropped to 3-2 on the season, the left-hander continued to showcase the kind of pitches that will make him a valuable starter for the Aggies going forward. Paulino went seven innings during a seven-inning game and struck out seven Wildcats while surrendering only one earned run.

The Aggies managed five hits off of Thomas with George Hines coming up with the Aggies only extra base hit of the game which was a double. Paulino only allowed the Wildcats one hit through the first three innings.

But a Peter O’Brien double made Paulino pay for a one-out walk to Chris Brown as Brown scored on O’Brien’s double to give the Wildcats 1-0 lead. Paulino would return to his dominant ways, however. Paulino struck out four of the next Wildcats he faced, keeping the Aggies competitive with the perennial MEAC power.

The Wildcats finally broke through in the seventh. Back-to-back throwing errors cost the Aggies two runs. C.J. Lauriello capped off the Wildcats three-run seventh with an RBI triple to right field that scored Drew Clark to give the Wildcats a four-run advantage going into the Aggies home half of the seventh.

Thomas would give up a walk to Hines in the seventh, but he ended the game with a strike out to improve the Wildcats to 4-1 in the MEAC. The Aggies meanwhile dropped to 7-19 overall and 3-4 in the MEAC. In the first game, freshman Xavier Macklin and junior Jaron Neal had two hits apiece.

Macklin and Hines both hit home runs. The Wildcats broke the game open thanks to a six-run fourth that included a Mark Brooks grand slam.