GREENSBORO (March 27, 2018) – Redshirt junior A.J. Hunt had his eighth multiple-hit game of the season on a 2-for-4 evening with three RBI to pace North Carolina A&T baseball to a 6-1 win over USC Upstate Tuesday evening. The Aggies won their second midweek game of the season as the Aggies out-hit the Spartans 8-5 and Aggie pitching struck out 11.
“I am happy with a good bounce-back win for our team after a tough loss on Sunday,” said N.C. A&T coach Ben Hall about the Aggies extra-inning loss at Bethune-Cookman. “For us to travel 10 hours and to get back early morning Monday we wanted to come out strong on Tuesday after the off day. Today we played good defense, all of our pitchers threw the ball outstanding. Ethan gave us a chance to win the game and the bullpen was lights out in the end. We did not give up a hit past the fifth inning and had some hits in some key situations.”
Freshman left-hander Ethan Chavis (1-2) struck out four batters in five innings on the mound earning his first collegiate victory. Sophomore relief pitcher Leon Davidson (RHP) tossed two innings fanning three. Junior reliever Leon Hunter (RHP) retired one batter in one inning and senior RHP K.J. McAlister closed the game by striking out three.
The Aggies (10-14) came alive with four runs in the fifth inning and put the game away with two more runs in the seventh inning. The Spartans (13-12-1) led 1-0 after the third inning on a bases-loaded walk.
“We executed well with runners in scoring position way better than we did earlier in the season,” said Hunt. “Luckily I got my teammates going with a big hit giving us some runs to put the game away.”
Hunt finished with his first three-RBI performance of the season and is on a four-game hitting streak. Sophomore catcher Ryne Stanley had his first multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Senior Forest Kimbrell was the other Aggie with multiple hits with an RBI while redshirt freshman Justin Williams finished with two RB and scored a run. Senior outfielder Greg White scored twice.
Four Aggie hits and two errors by the Spartans gave N.C. A&T a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning. Sophomore Camden Williamson led the inning with a walk and got to second base on a wild pitch. Stanley moved him to second on a single to left field and then Williamson tied the game by scoring on a bunt to the pitcher by Kimbrell. After a fly out to right field, White reached on an error to load the bases full of Aggies.
USC Upstate made a pitching change, but Williams kept the momentum going by singling to short. Stanley and Kimbrell scored while White advanced to third on a throwing error. The final run of the inning came on a single to left field by Hunt to score White.
Hunt extended the Aggie lead to 6-1 with a two-run RBI double to center field to score White and Williams in the seventh inning.
N.C. A&T travels to Savannah, Ga., for a MEAC three-game weekend series against the Savannah State Tigers. A doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m. Friday, March 30 while Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
