GREENSBORO (February 21, 2018) – North Carolina A&T baseball dropped their second game in two days as High Point University defeated the Aggies 10-3 at War Memorial Stadium on Wednesday. A day after nearly upsetting the 12th-ranked team in the nation, N.C. State in Raleigh, the Aggies committed four errors and their pitching staff walked 10 batters and hit four more.
Freshman infielder Justin Williams led the Aggies at the plate going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Junior designated hitter Jarrett Norman and senior infielder Forest Kimbrell each knocked in an RBI while seniors Greg White and Adan Ordonez both recorded doubles. Freshman pitcher Jason Jenkins was dealt the loss after throwing 1.2 innings. In total the Aggies used six pitchers with senior Josh Stikeleather fanning two batters in two innings tossed.
“This was a disappointing result on our end here at home,” said N.C. A&T coach Ben Hall. “We did not get off to a good start especially in the beginning. Way too many walks, putting too many guys on base which turned into free base runners.”
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The Panthers got off to a fast start capitalizing off two Aggie errors. With a runner on first, HPU hit a routine grounder to the shortstop that was dropped and then over thrown as the runner headed to second base allowing Austen Zente to score. The Panthers tacked on two additional runs in the next inning. Dunbar's sacrifice fly to right field brought in Schunk. Daniel Millwee singled up the middle scoring Sergent.
White ignited the Aggies offense to lead off the second. He doubled to left field and advanced on a flyout to center field by sophomore outfielder Camden Williamson. An RBI single to right field by Williams sent White home for N.C. A&T's first run. Forest Kimbrell's RBI sacrifice fly to right field scored sophomore catcher Rhyne Stanley who drew a walk to reach base.
HPU's Travis Holt's RBI doubled to left center field scoring Millwee pushed the Panther lead to 4-2 in the fourth. In the fifth, HPU scored three runs on three hits taking a 7-2 lead. Zente RBI single to center field and Millwee doubled to right-center knocking in two RBI.
Norman's sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning scored N.C. A&T's third run. Senior infielder Milton Rivera crossed home plate after getting on base with a single to right field and then moving to third on a double to left-center field by Ordonez.
“We have to get to work on our hitting and shore it up for this weekend,” Hall said. “We have to get some guys to create a little bit more flow in the lineup. We have good hitters, but right now we are just missing on some scenarios and not really jumping on opportunities throughout the ballgame to create consistency for our batters one through nine.”
A three-game series awaits the Aggies at War Memorial Stadium against Leigh (1-3) with a 1 p.m., Saturday doubleheader and a 1 p.m., game on Sunday.
