TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 31) - North Carolina A&T held off the Florida A&M Baseball team late inning rally as the Aggies held on for a 12-7 win over the Rattlers, Sunday afternoon at Moore-Kittles field in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup.
FAMU (2-27, 2-10 MEAC) finished the contest with 13 hits as Jarred Walker finished with a game high three hits, followed by both Marlon Gibbs and Kendall Weeks with two hits each for the Rattlers. In addition, the Rattlers left 13 men on base as the Rattlers left the bases loaded on three separate occasions.
N.C. A&T (9-18, 5-6 MEAC) finished the contest with game high 16 hits as Jevoanny Tolentino, Dylan Hipp and Brandon Wilkerson finished with three hits each for the Aggies.
In addition, both teams combined for six doubles in the contest with A&T and FAMU both finishing with three doubles each.
Tyler Boon (1-2) picked up the win for A&T as he pitched five and one-third innings, allowing 10 hits, eight earned runs and striking out one in the 20 batters he faced, while Luke Tendler picked up his first save of the season as he pitched one and one-third scoreless innings and striking out three in the five batters he faced. Former Rattlers pitcher/infielder Tim Jones and now an Aggie pitcher pitched two and one-third innings, allowing one hits and striking out four in the 13 batters he faced.
William Carrasco (0-4) received the loss for FAMU as he gave up 10 hits, eight earned runs and striking out one in the three innings of work. In relief, both Kelvin Singletary and Stephen Dollar made appearances on the mound for FAMU with Singletary recording five innings of work, allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out four in the 24 batters he faced and Dollar facing five batters, allowing two hits, one earned run and striking out one in one inning of work.
A&T garnered a 5-0 lead as they score three runs in the first and two runs in the second.
FAMU plated their first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning as Walker scored a Scott Sheplak ground out to the shortstop, cutting A&T’s lead to 5-1.
The Aggies made the score 8-1 in the top of the fourth inning as Bo McMillian scored on Hipp single to right field, followed by a FAMU wild pitch scoring Tolentino and then Hipp would score on a Kelvin Freeman sacrifice fly to centerfield.
In the FAMU fifth, the Rattlers would score three runs as Bryce Farrar scored on a Bennie Robinson ground out, followed by a Sheplak ground out to the shortstop scoring Grant and then Walker on a A&T wild pitch, cutting the Aggies’ lead to 8-4.
A&T would score three runs in their half of the sixth to increase their lead to 10-4 as the plated two runs in the inning.
FAMU would then answer with three runs in the bottom of the sixth as both Garrett Johnson and Gibbs scored on an A&T infielder’s error, followed by a Farrar ground out to shortstop scoring Weeks, making the score 10-7 in favor of the Aggies.
A&T would score a run in the seventh and a run in the ninth for the 12-7 finale.
FAMU will return to action on Tuesday, April 1 as they will take on FIU at FIU Stadium in a 6 p.m. in Miami, Fla.
