April 10, 2009

Final Stats

ETTRICK, Va. - The North Carolina Central University Eagles traveled up to the Commonwealth of Virginia for a "Good Friday" matchup against former CIAA rival, the Virginia State University Trojans at Waley Colbert Field. The Eagles held an 8-4 late but could not hold on falling in the contest 9-8.

Neither team could get anything going offensively through the first two innings until VSU's Michael Knight hit an RBI triple down the rightfield line giving the Trojans an early 1-0 lead. The Trojans struck again later in the inning to grab a 2-0 lead, thanks to Andrew Holt's RBI single. Shawn McEnhimer brought in the third running of the inning with a double off the outfield wall, putting the Trojans up 3-0 at the end of three.

NCCU managed just two hits through five innings, and Virginia State turned two double plays ending all Eagle threats at that point. The Trojans added another run in the fifth on Holt's RBI double, making it 4-0 in the fifth.

With NCCU trailing 4-0 in the sixth, freshman Akeem Hood led off the inning with a standup double, to get the Eagles started. Oliver Jenkins followed that up by getting plunked putting two Eagles on with no outs. One of the hottest hitters on the team, David Scott, came up next, hitting an RBI single cutting the NCCU deficit to 4-1 in the fifth. The ensuing batter, Blake Murray, hit a blooper to centerfield to bring in Jenkins making it 4-2. Edward Pegues made it three hits-in-a-row with another single loading the bases with no outs. Kurt Wilson hit a ground ball to the Trojan shortstop, who then threw the ball away, scoring Scott and Murray to tie the game at 4 with just one out. A Justin Goodson strikeout allowed Wilson to score on a VSU throwing error, giving NCCU a 5-4 advantage.

The Eagles added on to the lead in the top half of the seventh, behind Hood who started the inning off with an outfield single. Murray added another RBI to his stat sheet with an RBI single that brought around Hood. Jenkins reached on a walk, later scored on a VSU error putting the Eagles up 7-4. Pegues reached in the second walk of the inning, and Goodson ripped a line drive that brought in Murray adding another run to the Eagle lead at 8-4.

The bottom of the seventh saw VSU fight right back on a Brandon Crump triple scoring Knight bringing the Virginia State deficit to three at 8-5. A Trojan sacrifice fly brought in Crump to cut the margin to two at 8-6 with one out and nobody on base. NCCU hurler Joseph Cobb came on in relief and retired the side to hold off the Trojans and end the threat in the seventh inning.

The drama started in the eighth inning when Virginia State loaded the bases with one out, and in came freshman Brandon Strickland who closed the door on the Trojans, striking out one batter and forcing a flyout to Jenkins, keeping the Eagles ahead by two.

In the bottom of the ninth Strickland walked the first batter Holt. A fielding error on a routine single to rightfield by McEnhimer scored Holt to make it 8-7 with a runner on third base and no outs. A sacrifice fly by Daniel Cornette, brought in McEnhimer to tie the game at 8-8. DeShawn Showell hit the game- winner for the Trojans to complete the comeback scoring three runs in the ninth to win 9-8.

NCCU (4-20) fell for the ninth straight time splitting the season series with Virginia State at a game apiece, takes the weekend off to get ready for a five game in three days stretch starting with a contest at Coppin State University on Monday afternoon at 3:00.