GREENSBORO (February 25, 2018) – The first six North Carolina A&T batters reached base with hits on Sunday as the Aggies brought 13 batters to the plate in the first inning on their way to a nine-run first and an 11-2 win over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at War Memorial Stadium in non-conference baseball action.
In their first three-game series of the season, the Aggies (3-4) took two out of three from the Mountain Hawks (2-5) and got great starting pitching in the process. On Sunday, right-hand sophomore Michael Johnson improved to 2-0 on the season as he went seven innings, gave up two runs and struck out seven in 99 pitches. Junior Tim Luth and senior Marcello Betances also had good starts with Luth going seven innings to get the win in Game 1 on Saturday before Betances went 5.1 innings in Game 2. Despite Betances taking the loss, he struck out six and only gave up one earned run.
N.C. A&T pitching combined to strike out 28 Mountain Hawks over the weekend.
“I thought all three of them had great tempo,” said N.C. A&T coach Ben Hall. “It's still early in the year so we're still getting their pitch counts up. But for them to go out and execute a plan – execute off-speed pitches, execute fastballs – was really good to see. Our starters set the tone for the whole weekend, but hats off to our entire pitching staff.”
Hall's hitters allowed Johnson to get real comfortable on the mound early with an offensive fury. The Aggies first three batters – sophomore Shane Faulk and seniors Milton Rivera and Adan Ordonez – had a single, a triple and a double. Rivera and Ordonez drove in runs with their respective extra base hits to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead. Junior designated hitter Jarrett Norman then singled through the left side to advance Ordonez to third. Senior outfielder Greg White doubled home Ordonez to keep the Aggies hot streak going.
Junior outfielder Dawnonven Smith's infield single allowed Norman to score for a 4-0 Aggies advantage. The Mountain Hawks got their first out of the game when right-hand starter Jason Reynolds struck out redshirt freshman Justin Williams. It was only a temporary slowing in the onslaught, however.
Sophomore first baseman Zach McLean singled to score White and put runners on first and second. After Forest Kimbrell walked to load the bases, Reynolds hit Faulk, who was batting for the second time in the inning, with a pitch to force in Smith for a 6-0 advantage. Matt Svanson replaced Reynolds as Reynolds only last a third of an inning.
But Svanson threw a wild pitch to the first batter he faced, allowing McLean to score. Rivera loaded the bases by earning a walk, which led to a passed ball permitting Kimbrell to score for an 8-0 advantage. The Aggies capped off the 9-run first with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field by Ordonez.
“Sunday is always a toughness day,” said Hall. “You either have the opportunity to sweep or win a series, and in case you don't play well on Friday and Saturday, Sunday gives you a chance to get a game back. We knew coming into today we wanted to come out and get going fast and establish some rhythm to what we're doing. It was great to see those guys tuned-in from pitch one.”
N.C. A&T scored again in the second as they manufactured a run with White singling, moving to second on a wild pitch before going to third on a flyball out by Smith. Williams then grounded out to first to score White for a 10-0 advantage.
Lehigh finally got on the board in the sixth on a two-run RBI double from Jeff Shanfeldt in the sixth inning. The Aggies added their final run of the game on a Smith home run to left in the seventh inning.
Smith went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while White was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Rivera led the Aggies in the series by going 6-for-12 with a double and two triples. Ordonez and Smith drove in four runs apiece in the series with Smith hitting two home runs. Faulk scored four times.
Reynolds (0-2) took the loss for Lehigh. The Aggies are back in action 4 p.m., Tuesday when they face Davidson at War Memorial Stadium.
