TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 30) - The Florida A&M Baseball picked up their second win of the season as the Rattlers scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 3-2 victory over North Carolina A&T, here Saturday afternoon at Moore-Kittles Field, in their second game of a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader. In game one, the Aggies routed the Rattlers, 12-3.
FAMU (2-26, 2-9 MEAC) finished game two with eight hits as Reginald Grant, Jared Walker and Scott Sheplak, all finished with two hits each to lead the Rattlers.
NCA&T (8-18, 4-6 MEAC) was paced by Kelvin Freeman as he garnered two of the Aggies three hits.
Heath Blackburn (1-6) picked up his first win of the season for FAMU as he pitched seven complete innings, allowing three hits and striking out five in the 26 batters he faced, while Josh Ganus (3-3) pitched six and two-third innings, allowing eight hits, one earned run and striking out four in the 31 batters he faced.
Sheplak got his first RBI of the game as he singled to left center scoring Jared Walker, giving the Rattlers a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.
Kelvin Freeman regained the lead for the Aggies in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run homer to left field.
FAMU tied the game at 2-2 on a Robinson fielder’s choice scoring Brandon Parker. Sheplak would then record his second RBI of the game on a base hit single up the middle scoring Grant for the 3-2 win.
In the first game, A&T finished with a game high 10 hits, while FAMU tallied nine hits in the contest.
Robinson and Kelvin Singletary led FAMU from the plate as Robinson finished with three hits and Singletary with two.
The Aggies had three batters to finish with two hits each for A&T.
Brent Moore (3-4) got the win for the Aggies as he pitched seven inning, allowing eight hits, two earned runs and striking out four in the 30 batters he faced, while David Duncan (0-6) received the loss for the Rattlers as he pitched five innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs and striking out two in the 24 batters he faced.
A&T took a 5-0 lead into the sixth inning.
FAMU scored their first run of the game on a Justin Abney homer to left field, cutting A&T’s lead to 5-1.
The Aggies picked a run in the top of the seventh inning as Dylan Hipp scored on Cameron sacrifice fly t to right field, giving A&T a 6-1 lead.
FAMU scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eight as Robinson led off the inning with a solo homer to right field, followed by a Michael Birdsong bases loaded walk scoring Singletary, cutting the Aggies’ lead to 6-3.
A&T would answer in the top of the ninth inning as they scored six runs in the inning for the 12-3 finale.
FAMU will conclude their three-game series with A&T on Sunday, March 31 at Moore-Kittles Field in a 1 p.m. start.
