AGGIES CLAIM SHARE OF BCB BASEBALL TITLEShumate, Jones, Hauff all receive individual recognition
GREENSBORO, N.C., June 9, 2005 – A season of awards and accolades continued for the N.C. A&T baseball team. Black College Baseball, the leading source for Historically Black College and University baseball, named N.C. A&T its co-champion on Thursday. The Aggies share the title with Southern University who went 29-18 and was eliminated from the NCAA tournament in the Tulane Regional.
“This really means a lot to our team,’’ Shumate said. “We were actually recognized by people who follow HBCU baseball, which makes this honor special for our team. The kids really played and hard and deserve to be named co-champions of black college baseball.”
The Aggies went 27-27 this season, setting a new record for wins in a season. Their 27 wins came after a 7-17 start. They won three consecutive games at the MEAC Baseball Tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports to claim their first tournament title since 1993. The MEAC title also earned their first appearance in the NCAA baseball tournament, where they went 0-2 at the Clemson Regional.
In those two losses, the Aggies held a 2-1 lead over Clemson in the seventh and had every opportunity to knock off Oral Roberts, including two bases-loaded-nobody-out situations before losing 6-3.
Black College Baseball hosts a website called blackcollegebaseball.com, in which it releases a Top 10 poll of the best HBCU baseball teams in the country. The Aggies reached the No. 1 spot the week of April 26, but slipped to No. 2 over the next two weeks where they stayed until season’s end when they jumped up to No. 1 along with Southern.
Although the Aggies had to share the championship, outfielder Jeremy Jones, head coach Keith Shumate and right-hand pitcher Michael Hauff didn’t have to share individual honors. Jones was named Black College Baseball’s Player of the Year to add to his MEAC Player of the Year award. Shumate, who saw the single-season wins record fall for the fourth time in his tenure, was named Black College Baseball Coach of the Year. Hauff rounded out the Aggies sweep by being named Pitcher of the Year.
Jones batted above .400 most of the season, and when it came time to prove himself against top-notch competition at the Clemson Regional, Jones batted .600 with two runs scored. He finished the season with batting .402 with four home runs, 46 RBI, 20 doubles and 19 stolen bases, while setting the school mark for hits in a season with 82.
Shumate took over a team that went 4-45 the year before and in nine seasons he guided the N.C. A&T baseball program to its finest hour – an NCAA tournament appearance. Shumate is a 1988 graduate of Western Carolina, where he played on four consecutive conference championship teams. As the Aggies coach, he has 152 wins and he won MEAC Coach of the Year in 2001.
Hauff (8-5) led the MEAC in strikeouts with 132. There was a period during the season in which he had double digit strikeouts in five consecutive starts. He struck out a season-high 15 batters against Maryland-Eastern Shore in an April 2 win.
His most impressive performances came near the end of the season. He pitched a complete-game shutout against Coppin State on April 23. He followed that up with an eight-inning four-hit masterpiece against Florida A&M in the opening game of the MEAC tournament.
In the MEAC championship game, he came on in the ninth to earn the save in the 10-9 win over Norfolk State. Two weeks later, he impressed the University of Virginia by shutting out the Cavaliers for six innings before losing 2-0. Against Clemson in the regional, he held the Tigers to one run over 6.1 innings before getting fatigued.
“Our guys have been unbelievable this season,’’ Shumate said. “Even I have been amazed at some of the heart these guys have shown. This is a special group of kids we have here.”
Rounding out the Elite Team first team for the Aggies were third baseman Charlie Gamble and right-hand pitcher John Primus. Second-team recognition went to right-hand relief pitcher Richard Hawk.
Gamble led the MEAC in home runs with 13, including a solo home run at the Clemson Regional. Gamble went 4-for-7 at the regional and batted .337 with a team-leading 48 RBI. Primus, a freshman out of Garner, went 7-3 and led the team in complete games with seven.
His positive momentum started when he pitched a three-hit shutout against six-time defending MEAC champion Bethune-Cookman on March 26. Primus and Gamble also made first-team All-MEAC.
Richard Hawk led the MEAC in saves with nine. He stuck out 35 batters in 33.1 innings pitched and in 29 appearances. He had a 3-1 overall record.