Johnson strikes out eight

Box Score
GREENSBORO, MARCH 1, 2008 – Tim Johnson put together his second straight strong outing, but the Aggies could not reward him with a win as The Citadel defeated the North Carolina A&T baseball team 2-1 in 10 innings at the Charleston Firefighter Memorial Challenge hosted by The Citadel.

Johnson went 8.1 innings, gave up seven hits and surrendered just one earned run. In his two starts this season, Johnson has pitched 17.1 innings, struck out 15 and has posted 1.04 ERA. The Aggies gave him a 1-0 lead early. Nelson Santos hit a RBI triple that scored Joe McIntyre who reached on a walk in the second inning.

Johnson was dominating over the first five innings. Only two runners advanced to third in the first five innings of the game. Johnson kept the Bulldogs off the board in the fifth thanks to his defense. Chris McGuiness hit a one-out single through the right side off of Johnson. Kyle Jordan followed with a double to left-center field. McGuiness tried to score from first base, but Aggies left fielder C.J. Beatty showed off his great arm.

He threw a perfect relay pass to shortstop Nick Mayo. Mayo then turned and threw a strike to home plate to nail McGuiness at the plate and keep the Aggies in front 1-0. But Sonny Meade ended Johnson’s hopes of shutout in the sixth with a solo homer to left to tie the game. Johnson gave up just one more hit the rest of the way before being taken out in the ninth.

Before leaving, the Aggies had a chance to win the game for him. Jeremy Jones hit a lead-off double to left field. Nick Rogers reached on an error putting runners at first and third for N.C. A&T. The Bulldogs turned to reliever Raymond Copenhaver to slow down the Aggies rally and he did. Copenhaver struck out the next three Aggies in order to end the inning.

In the Bulldogs half of the ninth, they had their lead-off hitter reach on an error before Marquis Frink came in and retired the Bulldogs to put the game into extra innings. Frink wasn’t so fortunate in the bottom of the 10^th. McGuiness hit a one-out single through the right side. He went to second on a balk before Jordan doubled him home for the walk-off win.

Frink took the loss, while Matt Reifsnider won the game for the Bulldogs. The Aggies mustered just four hits in the game. Jordan and Meade had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs. The Aggies dropped to 3-3 on the season. They continue play in the Challenge on Saturday when they take on N.C. State.