CHAPEL HILL (March 13, 2018) – Against one of the best teams Atlantic Coast Conference, North Carolina A&T head baseball coach gave the baseball to freshman Ethan Chavis and watched as his young left-handed hurler shutdown the North Carolina Tar Heel bats. The Heels squeezed out one run fifth to hold off the Aggies 1-0 Tuesday evening at Boshamer Stadium.
Chavis went six innings, allowed just the one run and four-hit the Tar Heels while striking out three. Hall also had to please with what he saw from his bullpen versus the ACC foe. Senior RHP Josh Bottenfield made his 11th appearance of 2018 and tossed the final shutout two innings, striking out one.
It appeared early that the Aggies offense would aid the pitching as N.C. A&T (5-11) recorded four hits over the first three innings but had none over the final six. Chavis (0-2) did take the loss.
“Today was a well-pitched ball game by both sides,” said Hall. “I was really proud of Ethan, a freshman, coming into Chapel Hill and did a great job of keeping them off balanced. He competes really hard and executed pitches. He is growing up right in front of us. It was exciting to see him do that today and play a clean game defensively.
We gave ourselves a fair opportunity to win the ballgame. In the end, we could not string enough hits together and missed a couple of execution opportunities throughout the game to scratch a run or two and get yourself on the winning side of it.”
UNC (9-7) finished with six and scored the game's only run on an RBI groundball out by Zack Gahagan to score Brandon Martorano who walked to lead off the fifth and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. Martorano moved to left field on a single by Ike Freeman.
N.C. A&T's best scoring chance came in the third inning. Sophomore Ryne Stanley got a second chance when the Tar Heels dropped a flyball that was hit into foul territory. Stanley utilized the second opportunity by singling to left field. He was eliminated on the base paths on a force out at second, but junior Jason King reached on the fielder's choice. Senior Milton Rivera followed with a one-out double to left put runners on second and third. Rodney Hutchison pitched his way out of the jam by getting sophomore Camden Williamson to pop out and striking out senior Adan Ordonez.
“We were hitting the ball hard early and that is something that we have to figure out as an offense -- what we can do to maintain that,” said Hall. “We have done that at times this year, coming out hot and then you kind of cool off a bit through our second and third at bats as a group.
I felt like our guys were seeing it well but you have to give (Hutchinson) credit too. He is an older guy that has been around the block and was pitching around our barrels a little bit.”
N.C. A&T returns to War Memorial Stadium for their next four games beginning with a matchup against Presbyterian 5 p.m., Wednesday. The Aggies will host St. Bonaventure in a three-game series this weekend starting 6 p.m., Friday.
