AN
HISTORIC SEASON COMES TO AN ENDBest season in baseball team’s history ends with NCAA tournament loss
N.C. A&T statistics for the Clemson Regional
CLEMSON, S.C., JUNE 4, 2005 -- On Saturday, the pioneering Aggies were eliminated from the double elimination NCAA baseball tournament with a 6-3 loss to Oral Roberts in the elimination game of the Clemson Regional. But consider all the evidence surrounding this team’s pioneering status.
· Twenty-seven wins – is a first.
· Jeremy Jones’ 82 hits in one season – is a new team record. He also finished the season batting better than .400 at .402.
· Back-to-back 20-win seasons – is a first.
· The MEAC Championship was the first in 12 years.
· And yes, this Aggie team will down as the first-ever NCAA team in the program’s history.
Unfortunately for the Aggies throughout the Clemson Regional, pitching depth and timely hitting became an issue. On Friday, starter Michael Hauff wore down after 150-plus pitches and the Tigers were able to score on the Aggies bullpen.
Starter John Primus seemed to slow down around the sixth inning on Saturday, which might not have been a problem with a few more hits in key situations. The Aggies were just 6-for-40 with runners on base and 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position in their two games at the Clemson Regional.
“It was spring training for us throughout this entire weekend,’’ said Shumate pointing to the Aggies long lay off between winning the MEAC and playing in the regional. “Give the other guy credit; he made some smart pitches to our power hitters.
“But when you’ve been off as long as we have, you lose your rhythm. And as you know, hitting is about timing. We didn’t have our timing this weekend.”
Primus followed up Hauff’s strong pitching performance on Friday by going 7.2 innings, giving up six earned runs while striking out seven. He also hit five batters, which hurt him late.
The Aggies trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Aggies slugger Charlie Gamble put the Aggies on the board by taking the first pitch of the fourth inning and planting it over the right-field fence for solo home run. It was his league-leading 13th homer of the season.
The Golden Eagles answered with one run in the fifth and two more runs in the sixth. With one out in the sixth, Kelly Minissale singled to right and advanced to second on his second stolen base of the day.
He advanced to third on a groundout, and it appeared Primus would leave the inning with no further damage when he got ahead of Ricky Rivera in the pitch count. But Primus would hit Rivera with the pitch, advancing him to first base. Dennis Bigley made the freshman pay with a double down the left field line to score two runs and give the Golden Eagles a 6-1 advantage.
N.C. A&T had its chances. The Aggies would strike back in the bottom of the inning by loading the bases with no outs. But starter Taylor McIntyre, who pitched 7.2 innings and struck out eight, struck out Patrick Oates on consecutive curve balls. He walked Joe McIntyre to walk in a run, but settled down and struck out Raul Santiago and McIntyre was forced out on second on a Chris Williams grounder.
In the eighth, the bases were loaded with Aggies again with no outs. Again, the Aggies managed just one run. When Dustin Ijames struck out in the ninth, the magical run for the Aggies came to an end.
“All of this will take a while to soak in,’’ Shumate said. “We don’t leave here today dejected, we leave here hungry. We’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like, so we don’t want to stay away too long.”
Shumate has an excellent shot of coming back to a regional. He started six freshman, three sophomores and one junior on Saturday. All of his first-team All-MEAC selections are slated to return next season, which include MEAC Player of the Year Jeremy Jones and conference-home run leader Charlie Gamble, conference strikeout leader Michael Hauff and John Primus who pitched seven complete games this year on his way to a 7-3 record.
“If we add a few more arms to our bullpen and add more power hitters to our lineup, I think we can compete on this stage.”