GREENSBORO (April 22, 2018) – It was nail-biting, nerve-wracking, stomach-turning and everything in between. But in the end, the North Carolina A&T bullpen came through again in a one-run ballgame.
The senior combination of Josh Bottenfield and Josh Stikeleather came out of the Aggies bullpen on Sunday to help the Aggies complete a three-game weekend series sweep of Alabama A&M, 5-4, in non-conference baseball action at War Memorial Stadium. N.C. A&T improved to 22-18 overall and 10-7 in one-run games. But what tells the story more about how effective the Aggies pen has been this season is their record after eight innings. N.C. A&T improved to an impressive 14-1 when leading after eight innings.
Improving to 14-1 when leading after eight wasn't easy, however. The Aggies led 5-4 going into the seventh inning.
Bottenfield pitched a perfect seventh as the setup man for Stikeleather as Bottenfield saw his ERA lowered to 2.25 in 26 appearances. Stikeleather entered in the eighth and pitched a flawless eighth which included striking out Will Stripling to end the inning. The ninth also started out smoothly for Stikeleather as he got Carl Parker to ground out.
Stikeleather did, however, put the go-ahead run on first by walking Justin Lott on four pitches. More trouble ensued when Joannes Diaz singled to right field. A rocket line drive to center off the bat of Brandon Moore really made things scary for the Aggie faithful at War Memorial, but senior Myles Sowell ran down the hard-hit liner for the second out. John Smith II ended the game by hitting into a force out at shortstop.
Right-handed starter Michael Johnson improved to 5-1 on the year by pitching six innings, striking out three and walking only one. Stikeleather picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season and lowered his ERA to a minuscule 0.84.
“Our bullpen has been really good all year, but we've got good starting pitching too. It's great to know we have that balance,” said N.C. A&T coach Ben Hall. “We have those two guys (Bottenfield and Stikeleather) as leaders out of our bullpen, but we also have some other solid guys in there who can help us out. We knew we might have to be bullpen by committee this year so we prepared for that and now we're confident if the situation is right for Bott at the end of the game, he can close it down and if the situation fits more for Stikeleather, he can close it down.”
Hall said he knew Bottenfield and Stikeleather would have important roles on his team coming into their senior seasons. He did not know until two weeks into the season they would turn into the shutdown duo they have become on weekends for N.C. A&T.
“When you're beginning a season you're still trying to find out where everyone fits,” said Hall. “When you get into the flow of the season and players get opportunities in certain spots and they perform the way those two have with their opportunities, it's fun to see. They've improved tremendously from last year and they are thriving in those roles.”
N.C. A&T needed their relievers to thrive and a few others because the Bulldogs did all they could to avoid being swept. After losing the first two games of the series by a combined score of 28-6, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third. The Aggies got a run back in their third when senior Forest Kimbrell singled to center field to drive in senior Milton Rivera who reached on an error.
The Aggies used a four-run fourth to provide more comfort for Johnson on the mound. With runners on second and third, sophomore Ryne Stanley scored senior Adan Ordonez on an RBI single to left to tie the game at 2. Sowell then took the first pitch he saw from AAMU starter Jose Figueroa (0-3) and ripped it into left-center for a two-run RBI double that scored Stanley and sophomore Zach McLean. Rivera then moved Sowell to third on a groundout, setting up an RBI sacrifice fly from Kimbrell to give the Aggies a 5-2 advantage.
AAMU scratched across a run in the fifth on an RBI double from Smith and then got to within one on a solo home run from Richard Polinsky in the sixth.
“You've got to fight for sweeps,” said Hall. “I told our guys (Alabama A&M) was going to come out and compete to keep it from happening. I'm proud of the guys for getting the job done and performing down the stretch. Every game matters when you're trying to build toward putting together an exciting season.”
Kimbrell and Sowell drove in two runs apiece and McLean had two hits. The Aggies return to action 6 p.m., Wednesday as they travel to High Point to face High Point University in a midweek contest. The Aggies then return home to face Bethune-Cookman in a big three-game MEAC series, April 28-29 at WMS.
