Rogers records a combined eight RBIs and three home runs over the two games

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Box Score 2
JACKSON, Miss., May 9, 2008 – The North Carolina A&T baseball team took a 14-hour ride to Mississippi and obviously didn’t forget to pack its offense. The Aggies jumped out to a big lead against Jackson State in the second game of a Friday doubleheader and held on to beat the Tigers 12-9 at JSU Baseball Complex. The Aggies lost the first game 8-7 in 10 innings.

Nick Rogers led the Aggies in the second game by going 4-for4 with two home runs, six RBIs and two runs scored. James Howard was also perfect with a 3-for-3 day and two runs scored. Jeremy Jones went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, four RBIs and a home run.  

Jones’ home run came early. After a lead-off triple from Howard, Jones stepped to the plate and hit a two-run shot to right field for an early 2-0 Aggies lead. After Jones hit his 26^th career home run, C.J. Beatty followed with a single. It was then Rogers’ turn to drive the ball deep. Rogers’ homer to left scored Beatty for a 4-0 Aggies advantage.

The Aggies didn’t slow. With runners on third and second in the second inning, Jones hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Lester Rivenbark. Jackson State starter Nick Stewart continued his problems by walking Beatty to put runners on first and third. Joe McIntyre made the free pass hurt as he singled to score Nick Mayo for a 6-0 Aggies lead. McIntyre’s hit led to Stewart’s departure. David De La Calle took over, but could not stop Rogers from continuing to take over.

Robgers singled to score Beatty for a 7-0 Aggies advantage. The Aggies would go on to take a 12-0 lead by the sixth inning. While the Aggies offense gave the Tigers fit, Aggies starter John Primus was cruising through the first five innings of the game. But he ran into serious trouble in the sixth inning of the scheduled seven inning second game.

Primus surrendered seven runs, four of them earned, in the sixth. Primus was gone before the sixth inning ended as the Aggies saw their lead cut to 12-7 going into the seventh.

Jonathan Smith, who go the final out in the sixth, opened the seventh by giving up back-to-back singles to Pernell Halliman and Cortez Cole that led to a Tigers run, cut the Aggies lead to four. The Tigers inched even closer to an incredible comeback Jamaal Thelwell also singled to cut the lead to three. The Aggies then turned to Chris Eggers to end the nightmare. Eggers did just that by retiring the next three Tiger batters to give the Aggies the win. Primus (4-4) earned the win, while Eggers earned the save.

The Aggies had a come-from-behind effort of their own in the first game, but they too came up short. Down 7-5 going into the seventh, Howard and Jones opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Jackson State reliever Enrique Quintero retired the next two Aggies with McIntyre moving runners into scoring position with a groundout.

After Rogers walked to load the bases, Nelson Santos laced a two-out single to left to score Howard and Jones to give tie the game at 7. But in Jackson’s State half of the 10^th, Willie Wesley opened the inning by hitting a home run off of Donald Howerton for a walk-off ending.  

Charles Williams got the win while Howerton (2-5) took the loss. Beatty led the Aggies in the first game by going 3-for-6 with a RBI and two runs scored. McIntyre and Rogers also homered.