Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
DURHAM, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com)- The North Carolina Central University baseball team started the longest homestand of the season on a sour note after collecting just 15 hits and scoring six runs in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Savannah State University on Saturday at the Durham Athletic Park falling in game one 15-3 and game two 8-3.
From the get-go in game one, SSU jumped out in front with three runs in the first and three runs in the second to grab the lead, which was highlighted by a Matthew Oglesby double that drove in three runs despite getting gunned out at third base in the second frame and a Carter Williamson (Roanoke, Va.) throwing error led to more damage in the first.
NCCU got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when freshman Dylan Drayton (Raleigh, N.C.) hit his first career home run to right field to lead off the frame, but that’s all the Eagles could muster in the first and found themselves down 6-1 after two innings.
The Diamond Eagles scratched two more runs on the board in the bottom of the third headlined by Ross Plummer’s (Winston-Salem, N.C.) second home run of the season, putting the Eagles down 6-3 after three innings.
The Tigers answered back with two runs on the fourth and one more run in the sixth to stretch the margin to 9-3.
The final two innings saw SSU scored 3 runs to put away game one with a 15-3 win. Savannah State hit four doubles, one triple, and a home run to pound out 18 hits in the victory. Nine of those hits came from the top two batters in the lineup as SSU’s Dexter Kelley went a perfect 6-for-6 with two doubles and a home run along with three RBIs and four runs scored. His teammate Oglesby went 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs and three runs scored with a double and a triple.
The two Eagles who homered in game one accounted for six of the eight hits as both Drayton and Plummer finished with three hits apiece.
After a scoreless first inning in game two, Savannah State used two runs in both the second and the third inning to stay on top of the Eagles 4-0. The first two runs of the game for SSU can be credited to the winning pitcher in game one who hit the field for the final game on Saturday, Kevin Herilhy who doubled to drive in Eddie Barkley for the first run and scored from third while the Eagles had one of his fellow teammates in a run down for the final out of the frame. The third inning saw the Tigers piece together runs on an Oglesby sacrifice fly and a Barkley single to left field putting SSU up 4-0 after three innings.
NCCU (1-25) finally got on the board in the fourth inning after a freshman Troy Marrow walk when Plummer hit a double to the gap in left center field powering Marrow around from first base give the Eagles life at 4-1, but the maroon and gray could not take advantage of the momentum leaving two more runners stranded in the frame.
The final dagger of the afternoon came in the fifth when the Tigers put up four more runs to take an 8-1 one. That frame saw SSU rack up those runs on five hits including doubles from both Herilhy and outfielder Joseph McCrary.
NCCU scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning highlighted by the second double of the afternoon from freshman Alex Moore, III (Greensboro, N.C.). Tyson Simpson, Jr. (Burgaw, N.C.) got it all started with a single, while Marrow drove in the game’s final run with RBI No. 12 on the year putting the score at its final resting place at 8-3.
The Eagles were led on the day by Plummer who combined to go 4-for-5 with a double, home run and two RBIs, while SSU’s Dexter Kelley went an astonishing 8-for-9 at the plate with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs and five runs scored.
NCCU looks to salvage a game in the series and look to end a 14-game losing streak at 12:00 on Sunday afternoon in game three at the Durham Athletic Park.
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