Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score


CONYERS, GA. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) – The Eagles of North Carolina Central University earned a split on the final day of the 2011 season thanks to timely hitting and gutsy performances by the shorthanded squad by taking game one over Texas Southern University 7-5 and dropping a 9-8 nail biter in game two to end the final transition season at 7-39.

In the first game of the Friday twinbill with a 1-0 lead the Diamond Eagles were struck with adversity from the get-go as senior Douglas Dalley (Durham, N.C.) strained his oblique muscle on the game’s second pitch putting an already depleted pitching staff in a bigger bind thrusting game two starter Sam Fulmer (Raleigh, N.C.) to the hill.

Fulmer came in and immediately shut down the Tiger bats striking out the first two batters he faced and forced a groundout to get out of the inning unscathed.

In the top of the second inning, after Troy Marrow’s (Lutherville, Md.) leadoff double, senior Blake Murray (Wendell, N.C.) crushed his second home run of the season to left field putting the Eagles up 3-0.

TSU finally got on the board in the bottom of the second when shortstop Frankie Rivera’s double to left field driving in Lacy Jackson and cut the margin to 3-1 after two innings.

Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, NCCU lead 4-1 and Texas Southern charged back with three runs to tie the game at 4 that was highlighted by a double by Terrell Jones.

TSU took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth after Anthony Flenoy led off with a single and worked his way around with two stolen bases. Flenoy scored on a squeeze bunt that put the Tigers ahead.

That’s when the resilient Eagles struck the final blow as Marrow and Tyson Simpson, Jr. (Burgaw, N.C.) were both hit by a pitch and Murray reached on a throwing error by the TSU pitcher loading the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh inning. Junior Etienne Farquharson (Inagua, Bahamas) doubled to center field scoring two runs and giving the Eagles a 6-5. The final run of the game was added on a sacrifice fly by Ross Plummer (Winston-Salem, N.C.) putting NCCU ahead for good at 7-5.

Texas Southern made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh loading the bases before Fulmer forced a flyout to secure the win.

Fulmer earned his first win on the diamond at NCCU as the junior went seven strong innings with four earned runs allowed and six strikeouts.

With a depleted pitching staff Timothy Rennard (Knightdale, N.C.) came to the hill in game two and the Eagles found themselves down 5-0 due to three solo home runs by the Tigers, but the Eagles playing with a ton of heart were not deterred.

In the bottom of the third inning, NCCU plated four runs off of six hits that began with a Farquharson triple, his second of the season, an RBI double by Plummer and Simpson, Jr. to cut the deficit to one at 5-4.

NCCU took a 6-5 lead in the fourth with two runs that were aided by a Tiger error, but freshman Dylan Drayton (Raleigh, N.C.) recorded the RBI double to drive in Plummer and would later scorer on the only error of the frame. Drayton finished the year with 17 RBIs and the most hits in the short history of NCCU baseball with 58 on the season.

The Diamond Eagles made it 8-5 on Simpson, Jr.’s two-run bomb giving the freshman three on the season seemingly putting all the momentum on NCCU’s side.

With a run in the sixth, and literally no pitchers to turn to the selfless senior Murray went to the hill and the Tigers took advantage with a two-run homer in the seventh to tie the game at eight. Murray held TSU scoreless until the ninth inning when he seemingly ran out of gas and walked in the winning run.

NCCU could get nothing going in the final inning and dropped the final contest of the season 9-8.

Three Eagles combined for four hits in both games as Marrow finished 4-for-6 with two doubles, three runs scored and was hit by a pitch three times. The second season in a row, Farquharson saved his best for last finishing 4-for-7 with a double, triple, a run scored and two RBIs, and Drayton went 4-for-10 on the day with a double and an RBI.

NCCU finishes the year 7-39 and looks forward to the official move into the MEAC next season.

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